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\ \ THREE" MONTHS 



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IN 



THE SOUTHERN STATES: 



APRIL-JUNE, 1863. 



BT 



LIEUT.-COL. FEEMANTLE, 



COLDSTREAM GUARDS. 



NEW YOEK: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN BRADBURN 

(successor to m. doolady,) 

49 WALKEE-STEEET. 

1864. 






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PREFACE. 



At the outbreak of the American war, in common 
with many of my countrymen, I felt very indifferent 
as to which side might win ; but if I had any bias, 
my sympathies were rather in favor of the E^orth, on 
account of the dislike which an Englishman natu- 
rally feels at the idea of slavery. But soon a senti- 
ment of great admiration for the gallantry and de- 
termination of the Southerners, together with the 
unhappy contrast afforded by the foolish bullying 
conduct of the JSTortherners, caused a complete revul- 
sion in my feelings, and I- was unable to repress a 
strong wish to go to America and see something of 
this wonderful struggle. 

Having successfully accomplished my design, I 
returned to England, and found amongst all my 
friends an extreme desire to know the truth of what 
was going on in the South ; for, in consequence of 
the blockade, the truth can with difficulty be arrived 
at, as intelligence coming mainly tln'ough l^orthern 
sources is not believed ; and, in fact, nowhere is the 



6 PEEFACE. 

ignorance of wliat is passing in the South more pro- 
found than it is in the iN'orthern States. 

In consequence of a desire often expressed, I now 
publish the Diary which I endeavored, as well as I 
could, to keep up day by day during my travels 
throughout the Confederate States. 

I have not attempted to conceal any of the pecu- 
liarities or defects of the Southern people. Many 
persons will doubtless highly disapprove of some of 
their customs and habits in the wilder portion of the 
country; but I think no generous man, whatever 
may be his political opinions, can do otherwise than 
admire the courage, energy, and patriotism of the 
whole population, and the skill of its leaders, in this 
struggle against great odds. And I am also of 
opinion that many will agree with me in thinking 
that a people in which all ranks and both sexes dis- 
play a unanimity and a heroism which can never 
have been surpassed in the history of the world, is 
destined, sooner or later, to become a great and in- 
dependent nation. 



THREE MONTHS 



m 



THE SOUTHERN STATES. 

APRIL, MAT, JUNE, 1863. 



2d March, 1863. — I left England in tlie royal mail 
steamer Atrato, and arrived at St.- Thomas on the 

im. 

22d March. — Anchored at Havana at 6.15 a. m., 
where I fell in with my old friend, H. M.'s frigate 
Immortalite. Captain Hancock not only volun- 
teered to take me as his guest to Matamoros, but 
also to take a Texan merchant, whose acquaintance 
I had made in the Atrato. This gentleman's name 
is McCarthy. He is of Irish birth — an excellent fel- 
low, and a good companion; and when he under- 
stood my wish to see the " South," he had most good- 
naturedly volunteered to pilot me over part of the 
Texan deserts. I owe much to Captain Hancock's 
kindness. 



8. THE EIO GEAOTDE. 

23e? March.— Left Havana in H. M. S. Immor- 
talite, at 11 a. m. Knocked off steam when ontside 
the harbor. 

1^^ April. — ^Anchored at 8.30 p. m., three miles 
from the month of the Eio Grande, or Kio Bravo del 
!Norte, which is, I believe, its more correct name, in 
the midst of abont seventy merchant vessels. 

2d April. — The Texan and I left the Immortalite, 
in her cutter, at 10 a. m., and crossed the bar in fine \ 
style. The cutter was steered by Mr. Johnston, the 
master, and having a fair wind, we passed in like a 
flash of lightning, and landed at the miserable village 
of Bagdad, on the Mexican bank of the Bio Grande. 

The bar was luckily in capital order — 3^ feet of 
water, and smooth. It is often impassable for ten or 
twelve days together: the depth of water varying 
from 2 to 5 feet. It is very dangerous, from the heavy 
surf and under-current ; sharks also abound. Boats 
are frequently capsized in crossing it, and the Orlan- 
do lost a man on it about a month ago. 

Seventy vessels are constantly at anchor outside 
the bar ; their cotton cargoes being brought to them, 
with very great delays, by two small steamers from 
Bagdad. These steamers di-aw only 3 feet of water, 
and realize an enormous profit. 

Bagdad consists of a few miserable wooden shan- 



C0NrEDiLr.AiE cmcEES. y 

ties, wliicli have sprung into existence since tlie war 
began. For an immense distance endless bales of 
cotton are to be seen. 

Immediately we landed, McCarthy was greeted by 
liis brother merchants. He introduced me to Mr. 
Ituria, a Mexican, who promised to take me in his 
buggy to Brownsville, on the Texan bank of the 
river opposite Matamoros. McCarthy was to follow 
in the evening to Matamoros. 

The Eio Grande is very tortuous and shallow ; the 
distance by river to Matamoros is sixty-five miles, 
and it is navigated by steamers, which sometimes 
perform the trip in twelve hours, but more often 
take twenty-four, so constantly do they get aground. 

The distance from Bagdad to Matamoros by land 
is thirty-five miles; on the Texan side to Browns- 
ville, twenty-six miles. 

I crossed the river from Bagdad with Mr. Ituria, 

at 11 o'clock ; and as I had no pass, I was taken 

before half-a-dozen Confederate officers, who were 

seated round a fire contemplating a tin of potatoes. 

These officers belonged to Duff's cavalry (Duff being 

my Texan's partner). Their dress consisted simply 

of flannel shirts, very ancient trousers, jack-boots with 

enormous spurs, and black felt hats, ornamented with 

the " lone star of Texas." They looked rough and 

dirty, but were extremely civil to me. 

The captain was rather a boaster, and kept on 

1* 



10 LYNCH LAW. 

remarking, "We've given 'em li — 11 on the Missis- 
sippi, li — 11 on the Sabine" (pronounced Sabeen), 
" and li — 11 in various other places." 

He explained to me that he couldn't cross the river 
to see McCarthy, as he with some of his men had 
made a raid over there three weeks ago, and carried 
away some " renegadoes," one of whom, named Mon- 
gomer J, they had left on the road to Brownsville ; 
by the smiles of the other officers, I could easily guess 
that something very disagreeable must have happen- 
ed to Mongomery. He introduced me to a skipper 
who had just run his schooner, laden with cotton, 
from Galveston, and who was much elated in conse- 
quence. The cotton had cost 6 cents a poimd in 
Galveston, and is worth 36 here. 

Mr. Ituria and I left for Brownsville at noon. A 
buggy is a light gig on four high wheels. 

The road is a natural one — the country quite flat, 
and much covered with mosquite-trees, very like pep- 
per-trees. Every person we met carried a six-shooter, 
although it is very seldom necessary to use them. 

After we had proceeded about nine miles we met 
General Bee, who commands the troops at Browns- 
ville. He was travelling to Boca del Bio in an am- 
bulance,* with his quartermaster-general. Major Eus- 

* An ambulance is a light wagon, and generally has two springs 
behind, and one transverse one in front. The seats can be so ar- 
ranged that two or even three persons may lie at full length. 



LYNCH LAW. 11 

sell. I gave him my letter of introduction to General 
Magruder, and told him who I was. 

He thereupon descended from his ambulance, and 
regaled me with beef and beer in the open. He is 
brother to the General Bee who was killed at Ma- 
nassas. We talked politics and frateruized very ami- 
cably for more than an hour. He said the Mongom- 
ery affair was against his sanction and he was sorry 
for it. He said that Davis, another renegado, would 
also have been put to death, had it not been for the 
intercession of his wife. General Bee had restored 
Davis to the Mexicans. 

Half an hour after parting company with General 
Bee, we came to the spot where Mongomery had been 
left; and sure enough, about two himdred yards ta 
the left of the road, we found him. 

He had been slightly buried, but his head and arms 
were above the ground, his arms tied together, the 
rope still round his neck, but part of it still dangling 
from quite a small mosquite-tree. Dogs or wolves had 
probably scraped the earth from the body, and there 
was no flesh on the bones. I obtained this my first 
experience of Lynch law within three hours of land- 
ing in America. 

I understand that this Mongomery was a man of 
very bad character, and that, confiding in the neutral- 
ity of the Mexican soil, he was in the habit of calling 
the Confederates all sorts of insulting epithets from 



12 , duff's cavalry. 

the Bagdad bank of the river ; and a party of his 
" renegadoes" had also crossed over and killed some 
unarmed cotton teamsters, which had ronsed the fury 
of the Confederates. 

About three miles beyond this we came to Colonel 
Duff's encampment. He is a fine looking, handsome 
Scotchman, and received me with much hospitality. 
His regiment consisted of newly raised volunteers — 
a very fine body of young men, who were drilling in 
squads. They were dressed in every variety of cos- 
tume, many of them without coats, but all wore the 
high black felt hat. ^Notwithstanding the peculiarity 
of their attire, there was nothing ridiculous or con- 
temptible in the appearance of these men, who all 
looked thoroughly like "business." Colonel Duff 
told me that many of the privates owned vast tracts 
of country, with above a hundred slaves, and were 
extremely well off. They were all most civil to me. 

Their horses were rather raw-boned animals, but 
hardy and fast. The saddles they used were nearly 
like the Mexican. Colonel Duff confessed that the 
Mongomery affair was wrong, but he added that his 
boys " mecmt wellP 

We reached Brownsville at 5.30 p. m., and Mr. Ituria 
kindly insisted on my sleeping at his house, instead 
of going to the crowded hotel. 

Zd April (Good Friday). — At 8 a. m. I got a mill- 



MATAMOEOS AND BROWNSVILLE. 13 

tary pass to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, whicL. 
I presented to the sentry, who then allowed me to 
cross in the ferry-boat. 

Carriages are not permitted to run on Good Friday 
in Mexico, so I had a hot dusty walk of more than a 
mile into Matamoros. 

Mr. Zorn, the acting British Consul, and Mr. 
Behnsen, his partner, invited me to live at the Con- 
sulate during my stay at Matamoros, and I accepted 
their offer with much gratitude. 

I was introduced to Mr. Colville, a Manchester man ; 
to Mr. Maloney, one of the principal merchants ; to 
Mr. Bennet, an Englishman, one of the owners of 
the Peterhoff, who seemed rather elated than other- 
wise when he heard of the capture of his vessel, as 
he said the case was such a gross one that our gov- 
ernment would be obliged to take it up. I was also 
presented to the gobernador, rather a rough. 

After dining with Mr. Zorn I walked back to the 
Eio Grande, which I was allowed to cross on present- 
ing Mr. Colville's pass to the Mexican soldiers, and 
I slept at Mr. Ituria's again. 

Brownsville is a straggling town of about 3,000 
inhabitants ; most of its houses are wooden ones, and 
its streets are long, broad, and straight. There are 
about 4,000 troops under General Bee in its imme- 
diate vicinity. Its prosperity was much injured when 
Matamoros was declared a free port. 



14 MATAMOEOS. 

After crossing the Eio Grande, a wide dusty road, 
about a mile in length, leads to Matamoros, which is 
a Mexican city of about 9,000 inhabitants. Its houses 
are not much better than those at Brownsville, and 
they bear many marks of the numerous revolutions 
which are continually taking place there. Even the 
British Consulate is riddled with the bullets fired in 
1861-2. 

The Mexicans look very much like their Indian 
forefathers, their faces being extremely dark, and 
their hair black and straight. They wear hats with 
the most enormous brims, and delight in covering 
their jackets and leather breeches with embroidery. 

Some of the women are rather good-looking, but 
they plaster their heads with grease, and paint their 
faces too much. Their dress is rather like the Anda- 
lusian. When I went to the cathedral, I found it 
crammed with kneehng women; an e^gj of our 
Saviour was being taken down from the cross and 
put into a golden coffin, the priest haranguing all the 
time about His sufferings, and all the women howl- 
ing most dismally as if they were being beaten. 

Matamoros is now infested with numbers of Jews, 
whose industry spoils the trade of the established 
merchants, to the great rage of the latter. 

It suffers much from drouglit, and there had been 
no rain to speak of for eleven mouths. 

I am told that it is a common thing in Mexico for 



MATAMOROS. 15 

the diligence to arrive at its destination witL. tlie 
blinds down. This is a sure sign that the travellers, 
both male and female, have been stripped bj robbers 
nearly to the skin. A certain quantity of clothing is 
then, as a matter of course, thrown in at the window, 
to enable them to descend. Mr. Behnsen and Mr. 
Maloney told me they had seen this happen several 
times; and Mr. Oetling declared that he himself, 
with three ladies, arrived at the city of Mexico in 
this predicament. 

4:th Ajpril (Saturday). — I crossed the river at 9 
A. M., and got a carriage at the Mexican side to take 
my baggage and myself to the Consulate at Matamo- 
ros. The driver ill-treated his half-starved animals 
most cruelly. The Mexicans are even worse than the 
Spaniards in this respect. 

I called on Mr. Oetling, the Prussian Consul, who 
is one of the richest and most prosperous merchants 
in Matamoros, and a very nice fellow. 

After dinner we went to a fandango, or open-air 
fete. About 1500 people were gambling, and dan- 
cing bad imitations of European dances. 

hth April (Sunday). — ^Mr. Zorn, or Don Pablo as 
he is called here. Her Majesty's acting Yice-Consul, 
is a quaint and most good-natured little man — a 
Prussian by birth. He io overwhelmed by the sud- 



16 MATAMOEOS. 

den importance lie lias acquired from his office, and 
by the amount of work (for which he gets no pay) 
entailed by it, — the office of British Consul haying 
been a comparative sinecure before the war. 

Mr. Behnsen is head of the firm. The principal 
place of business is at San Luis Potosi, a considerable 
city in the interior of Mexico. All these foreign 
merchants complain bitterly of the persecutions and 
extortion they have to endure from the Government, 
which are, doubtless, most annoying ; Jbut neverthe- 
less they appear to fatten on the Mexican soil. 

I crossed to Brownsville to see General Bee, but 
he had not returned from Boca del Kio. 

I dined with Mr. Oetling. We were about four- 
teen at dinner, principally Germans, a very merry 
party. Mr. Oetling is supposed to have made a mil- 
lion of dollars for his firm, by bold cotton specula- 
tions, since the war. 

We all went to the theatre afterwards. The piece 
was an attack upon the French and upon Southern 
institutions. 

Qth April (Monday). — Mr. Behnsen and Mr. Col- 
ville left for Bagdad this morning, in a very swell 
ambulance drawn by four gay mules. 

At noon I crossed to Brownsville, and visited Cap- 
tain Lynch, a quartermaster, who broke open a great 
box, and presented me with a Confederate felt hat to 



BEOWNSVTLLE. 17 

travel in. He then took me to tlie garrison, and in- 
troduced me to Colonel Buchel of the 3d Texas regi- 
ment, who is bj birth a German, but had served in 
the French army ; and he prepared cocktails in the 
most scientific manner. I returned to Matamoros at 
2.30 p. M. 

Captain Hancock and Mr. Anderson (the pajTnas- 
ter) arrived from Bagdad in a most miserable vehicle, 
at 4 p. M. They were a mass of dust, and had been 
seven hours on the road, after having been very 
nearly capsized on the bar. 

There was a great firing of guns and squibs in the 
afternoon, in consequence of the news of a total de- 
feat of the French at Puebla, with a loss of 8,000 
prisoners and 70 pieces of cannon. 

Don Pablo, who had innocently hoisted his British 
flag in honor of Captain Hancock, was accused by 
his brother merchants of making a demonstration 
against the French. 

After dinner we called on Mr. Maloney, whose 
house is gorgeously furnished, and who has a pretty 
wife. 

^tJi April (Tuesday). — ^Mr. Maloney sent us his 
carriage to conduct Captain Hancock, Mr. Anderson, 
and myself to Brownsville. 

We first called on Colonels Luckett and Buchel ; 
the former is a handsome man, a doctor by profes- 



18 BROWNSVILLE. 

sion, well informed and agreeable, but most bitter 
against the Yankees. 

We sat for an hour and a half talking with these 
officers and drinking endless cocktails, wbicli were 
rather good, and required ^Ye or six different liquids 
to make them. 

We then adjourned to General Bee's, with whom 
we had another long talk, and with whom we dis- 
cussed more cocktails. 

At the General's we were introduced to a well- 
dressed good-looking Englishman, Mr. , who, 

however, announced to us that he had abjured his 
nationality until Great Britain rendered justice to 
the South.* Two years since, this individual had 
his house burnt down ; and a few days ago, happen- 
ing to hear that one of the incendiaries was on the 
Mexican bank of the river, boasting of the exploit, he 
rowed himself across, shot his man, and then rowed 
back. 

I was told afterwards that, notwithstanding the 

sentiments he had given out before us, Mr. is 

a stanch Britisher, always ready to produce his six- 
shooter at a moment's notice, at any insult to the 
Queen or to England. 

We were afterwards presented to , rather a 

sinister-looking party, with long yellow hair down to 

* It seems lie lias been dreadfully " riled" by tlie late Peterhoff 
affair. 



A FANDANGO. 19 

his shoulders. This is the man who is supposed to 
have hanged Mongomery. 

We were treated by all the officers with the great- 
est consideration, and conducted to the place ol 
embarkation with much ceremony. Colonel Luckett 
c'eclared I should not leave Brownsville until General 
Magruder arrives. He is expected every day. 

Mr. Maloney afterwards told us that these officers, 
having given up every thing for their country, were 
many of them in great poverty. He doubted whether 

had a second pair of boots in the world ; but 

he added that, to do honor to British officers, they 
would scour Brownsville for the materials for cock- 
tails. 

At 3 p. M. we dined with Mr. Maloney, who is one 
of the principal and most enterprising British mer- 
chants at Matamoros, and enjoyed his hospitahty 
till 9.30. His wine was good, and he made us drink 
a good deal of it. Mr. Oetling was there, and his 
stories of highway robberies, and of his journeys en 
cJiemise^ were most amusing. 

At 10 p. M. Mr. Oetling conducted us to the grand 
fandango given in honor of the reported victory over 
the French. 

A Mexican fandango resembles a French ducasse, 
with the additional excitement of gambling. It com- 
mences at 9.30, and continues till daylight. The scene 
is lit up by numerous paper lanterns of various colors. 



20 A FAXDANGO. 

A number of benches are placed so as to foim a 
large quare, in the centre of wliich the dancing 
goes on, the men and women gravely smoking all 
the time. Outside the benches is the promenade 
bounded b j the gambling-tables and drinliing-booths. 
On this occasion there must have been thirty or 
forty gambling-tables, some of the smaller ones 
presided over by old women, and others by small 
boys. 

Monte is the favorite game, and the smallest silver 
coin can be staked, or a handful of doubloons. Most 
of these tables were patronized by crowds of all classes 
intent on gambling, with grave, serious faces under 
their enormous hats. They never moved a muscle, 
whether they won or lost. 

Although the number of people at these fandangos 
is very great, yet the whole affair is conducted with 
an order and regularity not to be equalled in an as- 
sembly of a much higher class in Europe. If there 
ever is a row, it is invariably caused by Texans from 
Brownsville. These turbulent spirits are at once seized 
and cooled in the calaboose. 

Hh April (Wednesday). — ^Poor Don Pablo was 
" taken ill" at breakfast, and was obliged to go to 
bed. We were all much distressed at his illness, 
which was brought on by over-anxiety connected with 
his official duties ; and the way he is bothered by 



THIRD TEXAS rNTANTET. 21 

English and " Bine-nose" * skippers is enough to try 
any one. ^ 

Mr. Behngen and Mr. Colville returned from Bag- 
dad this afternoon, much disgusted with the attrac- 
tions of that city. 

General Bee's orderly was assaulted in Matamoros 
yesterday by a renegado with a six-shooter. This 
circumstance prevented the General from coming to 
Matamoros as he had intended. 

At 5 p. M. Captain Hancock and I crossed over to 
Brownsville, and were conducted in a very smart 
ambulance to General Bee's quarters, and after- 
wards to see a dress parade of the 3d Texas in- 
fantry. 

Lieutenant-colonel Buchel is the vjorTcing man of 
the corps, as he is a professional soldier. The men 
were well clothed, though great variety existed in 
their uniforms. Some companies wore blue, some 
gray, some had French Jce^pis, others wide-awakes and 
Mexican hats. They were a fine body of men, and 
really drilled uncommonly well. They went through 
a sort of guard-mounting parade in a most creditable 
manner. About a hundred out of a thousand were 
conscripts.f 

* Nova-Scotian. 

f During all my travels in the South I never saw a regiment so 
well clothed or so well drilled as this one, which has never been 
I in action, or been exposed to much hardship. 



22 BALL AT MATAMOEOS. 

After the parade, we adjoiumed to Colonel Lnckett's 
to drink prosperity to the od regiment. ^ 

"We afterwards had a very agreeable dinner with 
General Bee; Colonels Luckett and Buchel dined 
also. The latter is a regular soldier of fortune. He 
served in the French and Turkish armies, as also in 
the Carlist and the Mexican wars, and I was told he 
had been a principal in many affairs of honor ; but 
he is a quiet and unassuming little man, and although 
a sincere Southerner, is not nearly so violent against 
the Yankees as Luckett. 

At 10 p. M. Captain Hancock and myself went to 
a ball given by the authorities of the " Heroica y 
invicta ciudad de Matamoroi'' (as they choose to call 
it), in honor of the French defeat. General Bee and 
Colonel Luckett also went to this fete, the invitation 
being the first civility they had received since the 
violation of the Mexican soil in the Davis-Mon- 
gomery affair. They were dressed in plain clothes, 
and carried pistols concealed in case of accidents. 
- We all di'ove together from Brownsville to the 
Consulate, and entered the ball-room en masse. 

The outside of the municipal hall was lit up with 
some splendor, and it was graced by a big placard, 
on which was ^vritten the • amiable sentiment, 
'^ Ifuera Napoleon — mva MejicoP^ Semi-success- 
ful squibs and crackers were let off at intervals. In 
the square also was a triumphal arch, with an in- 



BEOWKSVILLE, 23 

scription to tlie effect tliat "the effete nations of 
Europe might tremble." I made great friends with 
the gobernador and administrador, who endeavored 
to entice me into dancing, but I excused myself by 
saying that Europeans were unable to dance in the 
graceful Mexican fashion. Captain Hancock was 
much horrified when this greasy-faced gobernador 
(who keeps a small shop) stated his intention of 
visiting the Immortalite with six of his friends, and 
sleeping on board for a night or two. 

The dances were a sort of slow valse, and between 
the dances the girls were planted up against the 
wall, and not allowed to be spoken to by any one. 
They were mostly a plain-headed, badly-painted lot, 
and ridiculously dressed. 

Qth April (Thursday). — Captain Hancock and Mr. 
Anderson left for Bagdad in Mr. Behnsen's carriage 
at noon. 

I crossed over to Brownsville at 11.30, and dined 
with Colonels Luckett, Buchel, and Duff, at about 
one o'clock. As we were all colonels, and as every 
one called the other colonel tout court^ it was diflfi- 
cult to make out which was meant. They were 
obliged to confess that Brownsville was about the 
rowdiest town of Texas, which was the most lawless 
State in the Confederacy; but they declared they 
had never seen an inoffensive man subjected to insult 



24: duff's eegiment. 

or annoyance, althongli tlie shooting-down and 
stringing-np systems are mucli in vogue, being al- 
most a necessity in a tliinly-popnlated State, much 
frequented by desperadoes driven away from more 
civilized countries. 

Colonel Luckett gave me a letter to General Yan 
Dorn, whom they consider the heau ideal of a cav- 
alry soldier. They said from time immemorial the 
Yankees had been despised by the Southerners, as a 
race inferior to themselves in courage and in honor- 
able sentiments. 

At 3 p. M. Colonel Buchel and I rode to Colonel 
Dujff's camp, distant about thirteen miles. I was 
given a Mexican saddle, in which one is forced to sit 
almost in a standing position. The stirrups are very 
long, and right underneath you, which throws back 
the feet. 

Duff's regiment is called the Partisan Rangers. 
Although a fine lot of men, they don't look well at a 
foot parade, on account of the small amount of drill 
they have undergone, and the extreme disorder of 
their clothing. They are armed with carbines and 
six-shooters. 

I saw some men come in from a scouting expedi- 
tion against the Indians, 300 miles off. They told 
me they were usually in the habit of scalping an In- 
dian when they caught him, and that they never 
spared one, as they were such an untamable and fe- 



duff's cavalry. 25 

rocious race. Another habit which the j have learned 
from the Indians is, to squat on their heels in a most 
peculiar manner. It has an absurd and extraordi- 
nary effect to see a quantity of them so squatting in 
a row or in a circle. 

The regiment had been employed in quelling a 
counter-revolution of Unionists in Texas. Nothing 
could exceed the rancor with which they spoke of 
these renegadoes, as they called them, who were 
principally Germans. 

When I suggested to some of the Texans that they 
might as well bury the body of Mongomery a little 
better, they did not at all agree with me, but said it 
ought not to have been buried at all, but left hang- 
ing as a warning to other evil-doers. 

With regard to the contentment of their slaves, 
Colonel Duff pointed out a good number they had 
with them, who had only to cross the river for free- 
dom if they wished it. 

Colonel Buchel and I slept in Colonel Duff's tent, 
and at night we were serenaded. The officers and 
men really sang uncommonly well, and they finished 
with " God save the Queen !" 

Colonel Duff comes from Perth. He was one of 
the leading characters in the secession of Texas ; and 
he said his brother was a banker in Dunkeld. 



V^th April (Friday). — We roused up at daylight, 

3 



20 A UOTONIST. 

and soon afterwards Colonel Duff paraded some of 
liis best men, to show off tlie Texan liorsemansMp, of 
whicli they are very proud. I saw tliem lasso cattle, 
and catch them by the tail at full gallop, and throw 
them by slewing them around. This is called tail- 
ing. They pick small objects off the ground when 
at full tilt, and, in their peculiar fashion, are beauti- 
ful riders ; but they confessed to me they could not 
ride in an English saddle, and Colonel Duff told me 
that they could not jump a fence at all. They were 
all extremely anxious to hear what I thought of the 
performance, and their thorough good opinion of 
themselves was most amusing. 

At 9 o'clock Colonel Buchel and I rode back to 
Brownsville ; but as we lost our way twice, and were 
enveloped in clouds of dust, it was not a very satis- 
factory ride. Poor Captain Hancock must be lux- 
uriating at- Bagdad ; for with this wind the bar must 
be impassable to the boldest mariner. 

In the evening, a Mr. , a Texan Unionist, or 

renegade, gave us his sentiments at the Consulate, 
and drank a deal of brandy. He finished, however, 
by the toast, " Them as wants to fight, let 'em fight — 
I don't." 

11th April (Satm-day).— Mr. , the Unionist, 

came to me this morning, and said, in a contrite 
manner, " I hope, Kernel, that in the fames of brandy 



BROTVlirSVILLE. ZT 

I didn't say any thing offensive last nigM." I assured 
him that he hadn't. I have now hecome compara- 
tively accustomed and reconciled to the necessity of 
shaking hands and di'inking brandy with every one.* 

The ambulance returned from Bagdad to-day. 
Captain Hancock had managed to cross the bar in 
Mr. Oetling's steamer or lighter, but was very nearly 
capsized. 

I went to a grand supper, given by Mr. Oetling in 
honor of Mr. Hill's departure for the city of Mexico. 
This, it appears, is the custom of the country. 

12^A Ajoril (Sunday). — I took an affectionate leave 
of Don Pablo, Behnsen, Oetling & Co., all of whom 
were in rather weak health on account of last night's 
supper. 

The excellent Maloney insisted on providing me 
with preserved meats and brandy for my arduous 
journey through Texas. I feel extremely grateful 
for the kindness of all these gentlemen, who rendered 
my stay in Matamoros very agreeable. The hotel 
would have been intolerable. 

I crossed to Brownsville at 3 p. m., where I was 
hospitably received by my friend Ituria, who con- 
fesses to having made a deal of money lately by cot- 
ton sj)eculations. I attended evening parade, and 

* This necessity does not exist except in Texas. 



28 MAJOE LEON SMITH. 

saw General Bee, Colonels Lnckett, Bucliel,'Dnff, 
and . The latter (who hanged Mongomerj) im- 
proves on acquaintance. 

General Bee took me for a drive in his ambulance, 
and introduced me to Major Leon Smith, who cap- 
tured the Harriet Lane. The latter pressed me most 
vehemently to wait until General Magruder's arrival, 
and he promised, if I did so, that I should be sent 
to San Antonio in a first-rate ambulance. Major 
Leon Smith is a seafaring man by profession, and was 
put by General Magruder in command of one of the 
small steamers which captured the Harriet Lane at 
Galveston, the crews of the steamers being composed 
of Texan cavahy soldiers. He told me that the re- 
sistance offered after boarding was feeble; and he 
declared that, had not the remainder of the Yankee 
vessels escaped unfairly under flag of truce, they 
would likewise have been taken. 

After the Harriet Lane had been captured, she was 
fired into by the other ships ; and Major Smith told 
me that, his blood being up, he sent the ex-master of 
the Harriet Lane to Commodore Kenshaw, with a 
message that, unless the fii'ing was stopped, he would 
massacR-EB the captured crew. After hearing this. 
Commodore Eenshaw blew up his ship, with himself 
in her, after havuig given an order to the remainder, 
sauve qui peut. 



STAET FOR SAN ANTONIO. 29 

ISth April (Monday). — I breakfasted witli General 
Eee, and took leave of all my Brownsville friends. 

McCarthy is to give me four times the value of my 
gold in Confederate notes.* 

We left Brownsville for San Antonio at 11 a. m. 
Our vehicle was a roomy, but rather overloaded, four- 
wheel carriage, with a canvas roof, and four mules. 
Besides McCarthy, there was a third passenger, in 
the shape of a young merchant of the Hebrew per- 
suasion. Two horses were to join us, to help us 
through the deep sand. 

The country, on leaving Brownsville, is quite flat, 
the road, a natural one, sandy and very dusty, and 
there are many small trees, principally mosquites. 
After we had proceeded seven miles, we halted to 
water the mules. 

At 2 p. M. a new character appeared upon the scene, 
in the shape of an elderly, rough-faced, dirty-looking 
man, who rode up, mounted on a sorry nag. To my 
surprise he was addressed by M'Carthy with the 
title of " Judge," and asked what he had done with 
our other horse. The Judge replied that it had 
already broken down, and had been left behind. 
M'Carthy informs me that this worthy really is a 
magistrate or sort of judge in his own district ; but he 

* The value of Confederate paper has since decreased. At 
Charleston I was offered six to one for my gold, and at Eichmond 
eight to one. 



80 THE "judge" and ME. SAHGENT. 

now appears in the capacity of assistant mule-driver, 
and is to make liimself generally nseful. I could not 
lielp feeling immensely amused at this specimen of a 
Texan judge. We started again about 3 p. m., and 
soon em-erged from the mosquite bushes into an open 
prame eight miles long, quite desolate, and producing 
nothing but a sort of rush; after which we entered a 
chaparral, or thick covert of mosquite-trees and high 
prickly-pears. These border the track, and are cov- 
ered with bits of cotton torn from the endless trains 
of cotton wagons. "We met several of these wagons. 
Generally there were ten oxen or six mules to a 
wagon carrying ten bales, but in deep sand, more 
animals are necessary. They journey very slowly 
towards Brownsville, frbm places in the interior of 
Texas at least five hundred miles distant. "Want of 
water and other causes make the drivers and animals 
undergo much hardship. 

The Judge rides on in front of us on his " Rosi- 
nante," to encourage the mules. His back view re- 
minds one in a ludicrous manner of the pictures of 
Dr. Syntax. 

Mr. Sargent, our portly driver, cheers his animals 
by the continual repetition of the sentence, " Get up, 
now, you great long-eared G — d d — d son of a ." 

At 5 p. M. we reached a well, with a farm or ranch 
close to it. Here we halted for the night. A cottoia. 
+rain was encamped close to us, and a lugubrious 



JOUENET THEOUGH TEXAS. 31 

half-naked teamster informed ns that three of his 
oxen had been stolen last night. 

In order to make a fire, we were forced to enter the 
chaparral for wood, and in doing so, we ran many 
prickles into our legs, which caused us great annoy- 
ance afterwards, as they fester, if not immediately 
pnlled out. 

The water at this well was very salt, and made 
very indifferent coffee. McCarthy called it the 
" meanest halting-place we shall have." 

At 8 p. II. McCarthy spread a bullock-rug on the 
fc'and near the carriage, on which we should have slept 
very comfortably, had it not been for the prickles, the 
activity of many fieas, and the incursions of wild 
hogs. Mr. Sargent and the Judge, with much pres- 
ence of mind, had encamped seventy yards off, and 
left to us the duty of driving away these hogs. I 
was twice awoke by one of these unclean animals 
breathing in my face. 

We did about twenty-one miles to-day. 

lUh April (Tuesday). — ^When we roused up at 4 
A. M. we found our clothes saturated with the heavy 
dew; also that, notwithstanding our exertions, the 
hogs had devoured the greatest part of our pet kid, 
our only fresh meat. 

After feeding our mules upon the Indian corn we 
had brought with us, and drinking a little more salt- 



33 JOURNEY THEOUGH TEXAS. 

water coffee, the Judge "hitclied in," and we got 
under way at 5.30 a. m. The country just the same 
as yesterday — a dead level of sand, mosquite-trees, 
and prickly-pears. 

At 7.30 A. M. we reached " Leatham's ranch," and 
watered our mules. As the water was tolerable, we 
refilled our water-barrels. I also washed my face, 
during which operation Mr. Sargent expressed great 
astonishment, not unmingled with contempt. 

At Leatham's we met a wealthy Texan speculator 
and contractor, called Major or Judge Hart. 

I find that our Judge is also an M. P., and that, in 
his capacity as a member of the Texan legislature, he 
is entitled to be styled the Honorable . 

At 9 A. M. we halted in the middle of a prairie, on 
which there was a little grass for the mules, and we 
prepared to eat. In the midst of om^ cooking, two 
deer came up quite close to us, and could easily have 
been killed with rifles. 

"We saw quantities of rat-ranches, which are big 
sort of mole-hills, composed of cow-dung, sticks, and 
earth, built by the rats. 

Mr. Sargent, our conductor, is a very rough cus- 
tomer — a fat, middle-aged man, who never opens his 
mouth without an oath, strictly American in its char- 
acter. He and the Judge are always snarling at one 
another, and both are much addicted to liquor. 

We live principally on bacon and coffee, but as the 



JOUENEl ^jLiivOLGn TEXAS. 33 

water and the bacon are botli very salt, this is very- 
inconvenient. We have, however, got some claret, 
and plenty of brandy. 

During the mid-day halts, Mr. Sargent is in the 
habit of cooling himself by removing his trousers (or 
pants), and, having gorged himself, he lies down and 
issues his edicts to the Judge as to the treatment of 
the mules. 

At 2.30 the M. P. hitched in again, and at 2.45 we 
reached a salt-water arm of the sea called the " Aroyo 
del Colorado," about eighty yards broad, which we 
crossed in a ferry-boat. Half an hour later we 
" struck water" again, which, being superior to Lea= 
tham's, we filled up. 

"We are continually passing cotton trains going to 
Brownsville, also government wagons with stores for 
the interior. ISTear every well is a small farm or 
ranch, a miserable little wooden edifice surrounded 
by a little cultivation. The natives all speak Span- 
ish, and wear the Mexican dress. 

McCarthy is very proud of his knowledge of the 
country, in spite of which he is often out in his cal- 
culations. The different tracks are so similar to one 
another, they are easily mistaken. 

At 4.45 p. M. we halted at a much better place 

than yesterday. We are obliged to halt where a 

little grass can be found for our mules. 

Soon after we had unpacked for the night, six 

3* 



34 GENEEAL MAGEUDEE. 

Texan Eangers, of " "Wood's" regiment, rode up to ns. 
Tliey were very picturesque fellows ; tall, thin, and 
ragged, but quite gentlemanlike in their manners. 

We are always to sleep in the open until we arrive 
at San Antonio, and I find my Turkish lantern most 
useful at night/^ 

16t/i April (Wednesday). — I slept wxU last night 
in spite of the ticks and fleas, and we started at 5.30 
p. M. After passing a dead rattlesnake eight feet 
long, we reached water at 7 a. m. 

At 9 A. M. we espied the cavalcade of General 
Magruder passing us by a parallel track about half a 
ixdle distant. McCarthy and I jumped out of the 
carriage, and I ran across the prairie to cut him off, 
which I just succeeded in doing by borrowing the 
spare horse of the last man in the train. 

I galloped up to the front, and found the General 
riding with a lady who was introduced to me as Mrs. 

, an undeniably pretty woman, wife to an officer 

on Magruder's staff, and she is naturally the object 
of intense attention to all the good-looking officers 
who accompany the General through this desert. 

General Magruder, who commands in Texas, is a 
fine soldierlike man, of about fifty-five, with broad 

^- A lantern for a candle, made of wliite linen and wire, wliicli 
collapses when not in use. Tliey are always used in the streets 
of Constantinople. The Texans admired it immensely. 



GENERAL MAGEUDEE. 35 

shoulders, a florid complexion, and bright eyes. He 
wears his whiskers and mustaches in the English 
fashion, and he was dressed in the Confederate gray 
uniform. He was kind enough to beg that I would 
tm^n back and accompany him in his torn' through 
Texas. He had heard of my arrival, and was fully 
determined I should do this. He asked after several 
officers of my regiment whom he had known when 
he was on the Canadian frontier. He is a Yirginian, 
a great talker, and has always been a great ally of 
English officers. 

He insisted that McCarthy and I should turn and 
dine with him, promising to provide us with horses 
to catch up Mr. Sargent. 

After we had agreed to do this, I had a long and 
agreeable conversation with the General, who spoke 
of the Puritans with intense disgust, and of the first 
importation of them as " that pestiferous crew of the 
Mayflower f but he is by no means rancorous against 
individual Yankees. He sjpoke very favorably of 
M'Clellan, whom he knew to be a gentleman, clever, 
and personally brave, though he might lack moral 
courage to face responsibility. Magruder had com- 
manded the Confederate troops at Yorktown which 
opposed M'Clellan's advance. He told me the differ- 
ent dodges he had resorted to, to blind and deceive 
the latter as to his (Magruder's) strength ; and he 
spoke of the intense relief and amusement with 



36 GENERAL MAGRUDEE. 

wMch he had at length seen M'Clellan with his mag- 
nificent army begin to break gromid before miserable 
earthworks, defended only by 8,000 men. Hooker 
was in his regiment, and was " essentially a mean 
man and a liar." Of Lee and Longstreet he spoke 
in terms of the highest admiration. 

Magruder was an artilleryman, and has been a 
good deal in Europe; and having been much sta- 
tioned on the Canadian frontier, he became acquaint- 
ed with many British officers, particularly those in 
the Tth Hussars and Guards. 

He had gained much credit from his recent suc- 
cesses at Galveston and Sabine Pass, in which he had 
the temerity to attack heavily-armed vessels of war 
with wretched river steamers manned by Texan cav- 
alrymen. 

His principal reason for visiting Brownsville was 
to settle about the cotton trade. He had issued an 
edict that half the value of cotton exported must be 
imported in goods for the benefit of the country (gov- 
ernment stores). The President had condemned this 
order as illegal and despotic. 

The officers on Magruder's Staff are a very good- 
looking, gentlemanlike set of men. Their names 
are — ^Major Pendleton, Major "Wray, Captain De 
Ponte, Captain Alston, Captain Turner, Lieutenant- 
Colonel M'JSTeil, Captain Dwyer, Dr. Benien, Lieu- 
tenant Stanard, Lieutenant Yancy, and Major Ma- 



GENEEAL MACEUDEE. 37 

gruder. The latter is neplieW to the General, and is 
a particularly good-looking young fellow. They all 
live with their chief on an extremely agreeable foot- 
ing, and form a very pleasant society. At dinner I 
was put in the post of honor, which is always fonght 
for -with mnch acrimony — viz., the right of Mrs. 

. After dinner we had numerous songs. Both 

the General and his nephew sang ; so also did Cap- 
tain Alston, whose corpulent frame, however, was 
too much for the feeble camp-stool, which caused his 
sudden disappearance in the midst of a song with a 
loud crash. Captain Dwyer played the j&ddle very 
well, and an aged and slightly elevated militia gen- 
eral brewed the punch and made .several " elegant" 
speeches. The latter was a rough-faced old hero, and 
gloried in the name of M^Guffin. On these festive 
occasions General Magruder wears a red woollen cap, 
and fills the president's chair with great aptitude. 

It was 11.30 before I could tear myself away from 
this agreeable party ; but at length I effected my exit 
amidst a profusion of kind expressions, and laden 
with heaps of letters of introduction. 

IQth April (Thursday). — ^Now our troubles com- 
menced. Seated in Mexican saddles, and mounted 
on raw-boned mustangs, whose energy had been a 
good deal impaired by a month's steady travelling on 
bad food, McCarthy and I left the hospitable mess- 



38 JOTJElSrET THEOTJGH TEXAS. 

tent abont midniglit, and started in searcli of Mr. 
Sargent and his yeliicle. We were under the gui- 
dance of two Texan Rangers. 

About daylight we hove in sight of " Los Animos," 
a desolate farm-house, in the neighborhood of which 
Mr. Sargent was supposed to be encamped ; but no- 
where could we find any traces of him. 

"We had now reached the confines of a di'eary re- 
gion, sixty miles in extent, called " The Sands," in 
comparison with which the prairie and chaparral were 
luxurious. 

The sand being deep and the wind high, we could 
not trace the carriage ; but we soon acquired a cer- 
tainty that our perfidious Jehu had decamped, leav- 
ing us behind. 

"We floundered about in the sand, cursing our bad 
luck, cursing Mr. Sargent, and even the good Magru- 
der, as the indirect cause of our wretchedness. Our 
situation, indeed, was sufficiently deplorable. We 
were without food or water in the midst of a desert : 
so were our horses, which were nearly done up. Our 
bones ached from the Mexican saddles ; and, to com- 
plete our misery, the two Rangers began to tm^n res- 
tive and talk of returning with the horses. At this, 
the clhnax of our misfortunes, I luckily hit upon a 
Mexican, who gave us intelligence of our carriage ; 
and with renewed spirits, but very groggy horses, we 
gave chase. 



JOUENEY THEOUGH TEXAS. 39 

But never dTd Mr. Sargent's mules walk at such a 
pace ; and it was 9 a. m. before we overtook them. 
My animal had heen twice on his head, and McCar- 
thy was green in the face with fatigue and rage. Mr. 
Sargent received us with the greatest affability , and 
we were sensible enough not to quarrel with him, 
although McCarthy had made many allusions as to 
the advisability of shooting him. 

We had been nine and a half hours in the saddle, 
and were a good deal exhausted. Om- sulky Texan 
guides were appeased with bacon, coffee, and $5 in 
coin. 

We halted till 2 p. m., and then renewed our strug- 
gle through the deep sandy wilderness ; but though 
the services of the Judge's horse were put into requi- 
sition, we couldn't progress faster than two miles an 
hour. 

Mule driving is an art of itself, and Mr. Sargent is 
justly considered &> professor at it. 

He is always yelling — generally imprecations of a 
serio-comic character. He rarely flogs his mules ; but 
when one of them rouses his indignation by extraor- 
dinary laziness, he roars out, " Come here. Judge, with 
a big club, and give him h — 11." While the animal 
is receiving such discipline as comes up to the Judge's 
idea of the infernal regions, Mr. Sargent generally 
remarks, " I wish you was Uncle Abe, I'd make you 
move, you G — d d — i son of a ." His idea of 



4:0 JOURNEY THEOIJGH TEXAS. 

perfect happiness seems to be to have 'Messrs. Lincohi 
and Seward in the shafts. Mnles travel much better 
when other mules are in front of them ; and another 
dodge to which Mr. Sargent continnailj resorts is, to 
beat the top of the carriage and kick the foot-board, 
which makes a noise, and gratifies the mnles qnite as 
much as licking them. Mr. Sargent accounts for his 
humanity by saying, " It's the worst plan in the world 
licking niggers or mules, because the more you licks 
'em, the more they wants it." 

We reached or " struck" water at 5.30 p. m. ; but, 
in spite of its good reputation, it was so salt as to be 
scarcely drinkable. A number of cotton wagons, and 
three carriages belonging to Mr. Ward, were also en- 
camped with us. 

We have only made sixteen miles to-day. 

Vlth April (Friday). — Having spent last night in 
a Mexican saddle, our bullock-rug in the sand ap- 
peared to me a most luxurious bed. 

We hitched in at 5 a. m., and struck water at 9 
A. M., which, though muddy in appearance, was not 
so bad to drmk. 

I walked ahead with the Judge, who, when sober, 
is a well-informed and sensible man. Mr. Sargent 
and I are great friends, and, rough as he is, we get 
on capitally together. 

A Mr. Ward, with three vehicles — a rival of Mr. 



JOUENET THEOrGH TEXAS. 41 

I 

i 



Sargent's — is travelling in our company. He drove 
his bnggy against a tree and knocked its top off, to 
the intense deliglit of the latter. 

We breakfasted under difficulties. The wind be- 
ing high, it drove up the sand in clouds and spoiled 
our food. 

Our travelling companion, Mr. , is a poor 

little weakly Israelite, but very inoffensive, although 
he speaks with a^ horrible Yankee twang, which Mr. 
Sargent and the Judge are singularly free from. 

We went on again at 2 p. m. I had a long talk 
with a big mulatto slave woman, who was driving 
one of Ward's wagons. She told me she had been 
raised in Tennessee, and that three years ago she had 
been taken from her mistress for a bad debt, to their 
mutual sorrow. " Both," she said, " cried bitterly at 
parting." She doesn't like San Antonio at all, " too 
much hanging and mm^dering for me," she said. 
She had seen a man hanged in the middle of the 
day, just in front of her door. 

Mr. Sargent bought two chickens and some eggs 
at a ranch, but one of the chickens got up a tree, 
and was caught and eaten by the Ward faction. 
Our camp to-night looks very pretty by the light of 
the fires. 

ISth Api'il (Saturday). — ^At daylight we discov- 
ered, to our horror, that three^of our mules were ab- 



4:2 JOTJEI^ET TKBOUGH TEXAS. 

sent ; but after an honr's searcli they were bronglit 
back in trinmpli by the Judge. 

This delayed our start till 6.30 A. m. 

I walked ahead again with the Judge, who ex- 
plained to me that he was a " senator," or member of 
the Upper House of Texas — "just like yom* House 
of Lords," he said. He gets $5 a day whilst sitting, 
and is elected for four years.* 

We struck water at 8.30 a. m., and bought a lamb 
for a dollar. "We also bought some beef, which in 
this country is dried in strips by the sun, after being 
cut off the bullock, and it keeps good for any length 
of time. To cook it the strips are thrown for a few 
minutes on hot embers. 

One of our mules was kicked last night. Mr. Sar- 
gent rubbed the wound with brandy, which did it 
much good. 

Soon after leaving this well, Mr. Sargent dis- 
covered that, by following the track of Mr. "Ward's 
wagons, he had lost the way. He swore dreadfully, 
and solaced himself with so much gin, that when we 
arrived at Sulphur Creek at 12.30, both he and the 
Judge were, by their own confession, quite tight. 

We halted, ate some salt meat, and bathed in this 
creek, which is about forty yards broad and three 
feet deep. 

* I was afterwards told tliat the Judge's term of service had 
expired. El Paso was his district. 



JOUEKEY THEOUGH TEXAS. 43 

Mr. Sargent's extreme " tightness" caused liim to 
fall asleep on the box when -we started again, but 
the more seasoned Judge drove the mnles. 

The signs of getting out of the sands now began 
to be apparent ; and at 5 p. m. we were able to halt 
at a very decent place with grass, but no water. "We 
suffered here for want of water, our stock being very 
nearly expended. 

Mr. Sargent, who was now comparatively sober, 
killed the sheep most scientifically at 5.30 p. m. ; and 
at 6.30 we were actually devouring it, and fomid it 
very good. Mr. Sargent cooked it by the simple 
process of stewing junks of it in a frying-pan, but we 
had only just enough water to do this. 

19th April (Sunday). — ^At 1 A. m. this morning our 
slumbers on the bullock-rug were disturbed by a sud- 
den and most violent thunder-storm. McCarthy and 
I had only just time to rush into the carriage, and 
hustle our traps underneath it, when the rain began 
to descend in torrents. 

We got inside with the little Jew (who was much 
alarmed by the thunder); whilst Mr. Sargent and 
the Judge crept underneath. 

The rain lasted two hours; and at daylight we 
were able to refresh ourselves by drinking the water 
from the puddles, and effect a start. 

Eut fate seemed adverse to our progress. "No 



44 JOUENEY THEOTJGH TEXAS. 

sooner had we escaped from the sand than we fell 
into the mud, which was still worse. 

We toiled on till 11.30 A. m., at which hour we 
reached " King's Banch^'^ which for several days I 
had heard spoken of as a sort of Elysium, marking as 
it does the termination of the sands, and the com- 
mencement of comparative civilization. 

"We halted in front of the house, and after cook- 
ing ' and eating, I walked up to the " ranch," 
which is a comfortable, well-furnished wooden build- 
ing. 

Mr. and Mrs. King had gone to Brownsville ; but 
we were received by Mrs. Bee, the wife of the 
Brownsville general, who had heard I was on the 
road. 

She is a nice lively little woman, a red-hot South- 
erner, glorying in the facts that she has no ITorthern 
relations or friends, and that she is a member of the 
Church of England. 

Mr. King first came to Texas as a steamboat cap- 
tain, but now owns an immense tract of country, 
with 16,000 head of cattle, situated, however, in a 
wild and almost uninhabited district. King's Ranch 
is distant from Brownsville only 125 miles, and we 
have been six days in reaching it. 

After drying our clothes and om^ food after the 
rain of last night, we started again at 2.30 p. m. 

We now entered a boundless and most fertile 



JOUBNET THEOUGH TEXAS. 45 

prairie, upon which, as far as the eye could reach, 
cattle were feeding. 

BuUs and cows, horses and mares, came to stare at 
us as we passed. They all seemed sleek and in good 
condition, yet they get nothing but what they can 
pick up on the prairie. 

I saw a man on horseback kill a rabbit with his re- 
volver. I also saw a scorpion for the first time. 

We halted at 5.30 p. m., and had to make our fire 
principally of cow-dung, as wood is very scarce on 
this prame. 

We gave up the Judge's horse at King's Ranch. 
The lawgiver now rides on the box with Mr. Sar- 
gent. 

20^A A^ril (Monday). — I slept well last night in 
spite of the numerous prairie-wolves which surround- 
ed us, making a most dismal noise. 

The Jew was ill again, but both Mr. Sargent and 
the Judge were very kind to him; so also was 
McCarthy, who declared that a person incapable of 
protecting himself, and sickly, such as this little Jew, 
is always sure of kind treatment and compassion, 
even from the wildest Texans. 

We started at 5 a. m., and had to get through some 
dreadful mud — Mr. Sargent in an awful bad humor, 
and using terrific language. 
^ We were much delayed by this unfortunate rain, 



46 .TOTJENEY THROUGH TEXAS. 

wliicli had converted a good road into a quagmire. 
We detected a rattlesnake crawling along this morn- 
ing, but there are not nearly so many of them in this 
country as there used to be. 

"We halted at 9 A. m., and, to make a fire for cook- 
ing, we set a rat-ranch alight, which answered very 
well ; but one big rat, annoyed by our proceedings, 
emerged hastily from his den, and very nearly jump- 
ed into the frjdng-pan. 

Two Texan Bangers, belonging to Taylor's regi- 
ment, rode up to us whilst we were at breakfast. 
These Rangers all wear the most enormous spurs I 
ever saw. 

"We resumed our journey at 12.30, and reached a 
creek* called " Agua Dulce" at 2 p. m. McCarthy 
and I got out before crossing, to forage at some huts 
close by. We got two dozen eggs and some lard ; 
but, on returning to the road, we found that Mr. 
Sargent had pursued his usual plan of leaving us in 
the lurch. 

I luckily was able to get hold of a Mexican boy, 
and rode across the creek en crGunpe. McCarthy dis- 
mounted a negro, and so got over. 

We halted at 5 r. m. 

After dark McCarthy crossed the prairie to visit 

* All streams or rivers are called creeks, and pronounced 
" criks." 



JOURNEY THEOUGH TEXAS. 47 

some friends who were encamped half a mile distant. 
He lost his way in returning, and wandered about 
for several hours. The Judge, with great presence 
of mind, kept the fire up, and he found us at last. 

The heat firom nine to two is pretty severe ; but in 
Texas there is generally a cool sea-breeze, which 
makes it bearable. 

21st April (Tuesday). — We started at 5 a. m., and 
reached a hamlet called " Casa Blanca" at 6. TVe 
procured a kid, some Indian corn, and two fowls in 
this neighborhood. 

We had now quitted the fiat country, and entered 
an undulating or " rolling" coimtry, full of live oaks 
of very respectable size, and we had also got out of 
the mud. 

Mr. Sargent and the Judge got drunk again about 
8 A. M., which, however, had a beneficial effect upon 
the speed. "We descended the hills at a terrific pace 
— or, as Mr. Sargent expressed it, " Going like h — II 
Orbeating tan lavTcP 

We " nooned it" at a small creek ; and after un- 
hitching, Mr. Sargent and the Judge had a row with 
one another, after which Mr. Sargent killed and 
cooked the goat, using my knife for these operations. 
With all his faults he certainly is a capital butcher, 
cook, and mule-driver. He takes great care of his 
animals, and is careful to inform us that the increased 



48 JOTJENET THEOUGH TEXAS. 

pace we have been going at is not attributable to 
gin. 

Ho was very complimentary to me, because I acted 
as a^ sistant cook and bntcber. 

Ili\ Ward's party passed ns about 1 p. m. The 
front wheels of his buggy having now smashed, it is 
hitched in rear of one of the wagons. 

We made a pretty good afternoon's drive through 
a wood of post oaks, where we saw another rattle- 
snake, which we tried to shoot. 

We halted at Spring creek at 6.30 p. m. ; water 
rather brackish, and no grass for the mules. 

The Judge gave us some of his experiences as a 
filibuster. He declares that a well-cooked polecat is 
as good to eat as a pig, and that stewed rattlesnake 
is not so bad as might be supposed. The Texans call 
the Mexicans "greasers," the latter retort by the 
name " gringo." 

We are now living luxuriously upon eggs and 
goat's flesh; and I think we have made about thirty- 
two miles to-day. 

^2d April (Wednesday). — We got under weigh at 5 
A. M., the mules looking rather mean for want of grass. 

At 8 A. M. we reached the Nueces river, the banks 
of which are very steep, and are bordered with a 
beautiful belt of live-oak trees, covered with mustang 
grapes. 



JOURNEY THEOUGH TEXAS. 49 

On the other side of the iNueces is " Oakville," a 
miserable settlement, consisting of abont twenty 
wooden huts. We bought some butter there, and 
caught up Ward's wagons. The women at Oakviile 
were most anxious to buy snuff. It appears that the 
Texan females are in the habit of dipping snuff — 
which means, putting it into their mouths instead of 
their noses. They rub it against their teeth w^th a 
blunted stick. 

We reached grass about 10 a.m., and "nooned it," 
the weather being very trying — very sultry, without ' 
sun or wind. 

We hitched in at 1.15 — ^Ward's wagons in our 
front, and a Frenchman's four-horse team in our 
rear. At 4 p. m. we reached the " Weedy," a creek 
which, to our sorrow, was perfectly dry. We drove 
on till Y p. M., and halted at some good grass. There 
being a report of water in the neighborhood, Mr. Sar- 
gent, the Judge, Ward, and the Frenchman, started 
to explore ; and when, at length, they did discover a 
wretched little mud-hole, it appears that a desperate 
conflict for the water ensued, for the Judge returned 
to *is a mass of mud, and presenting a very crestfallen 
appearance. Shortly after, Mr. Sargent appeared, in 
such a bad humor that he declined to cook, to eat, to 
drink, or do any thing but swear vehemently. 

Deprived by this contretemjos of our goat's flesh, 
we had recourse to an old ham and very stale bread. 



50 JOUENET THEOUGH TEXAS. 

We met many cotton trains and government wag- 
ons to-day, and I think we liaye progressed about 
tliirty-fonr miles. 

^Zd April (Tlim-sday). — The wily Mr. Sargent 
di'ove the animals down to the mud-hole in the 
middle of last night, and so stole a march upon 
Ward. 

Our goat's flesh having spoiled, had to be thrown 
away this morning. We started at 5.30 A. m., and 
reached "Eocky" at Y.30; but before this two of 
Ward's horses had '^ caved in,^^ which completely 
restored our driver's good humor. 

Eocky consists of two huts in the midst of a stony 
country ; and about a mile beyond it we reached a 
pond, watered our mules, and filled our barrels. The 
water was very muddy to look at, but not bad to 
drink. 

The mules were lazy to-day ; and Mr. Sargent was 
forced to fill his bucket with stones, and pelt the 
leaders occasionally. 

At 8 A. M. we reached an open, undulating prairie, 
and halted at 10.30. Mr. Sargent and I killed gud 
cooked the two chickens. 

He has done me the honor to call me a " right 
good companion for the road." He also told me that 
at one time he kept an hotel at El Paso — a sort of 
talf-way house on the overland route to California — 



JOUENEY THEOUGH TEXAS. 61 

and was rapidly making his fortune when the war 
totally ruined him. This accounts for his animosity 
to "Uncle Abe."* 

We hitched in again at 3 p. m., and after pushing 
through some deepish sand, we halted for the night 
only twenty-four miles from San Antonio. ISTo corn 
or water, but plenty of grass; our food, also, was 
now entirely expended. Mr. Ward struggled up at 
8.15, making a desperate effort to keep up with us, 
and this rivahy between Sargent and him was of 
great service. 

This was our last night of camping out, and I felt 
almost sorry for it, for I have enjoyed the journey in 
spite of the hardships. The country through which 
I have passed would be most fertile and productive 
(at least the last 150 miles), were it not for the great 
irregularity of the seasons. Sometimes there is hardly 
any rain for two and three years together. 

24^7i April (Friday). — We made a start at 4.15 a.m., 
and with the assistance of McCarthy, we managed to 
lose our way ; but at 6.15 a loud cheer from the box, 
of " Hoorraw for h — ^11 ! who's afraid of fire ?" pro- 

* General Longstreet remembered both Sargent and the Judge 
perfectly, and he was much amused by my experiences with these 
worthies. General Longstreet had been quartered on the Texan 
frontiers a long time when he was in the old army. — August, 
1863. 



52 BAJ^ ANTONIO. 

claimed that Mr. Sargent had come in sight of Grey's 
ranch. 

After buying some eggs and Indian corn there, we 
crossed the deep bed of the river San Antonio. Its 
banks are very steep and picturesque. 

"We halted immediately beyond, to allow the mnles 
to feed for an honr. A woman was murdered at a 
ranch close by some time ago, and five bad characters 
were put to death at San Antonio by the vigilance 
committee on suspicion. 

"We crossed the Selado river at 11, and nooned it 
in its neighborhood. 

Mr. Sargent and the Judge finished the gin ; and 
the former, being rather drunk, entertained us with 
a detailed description of his treatment of a refractory 
negro girl, which, by his own account, must have 
been very severe. McCarthy was much disgusted at 
the story.* 

After bathing in the Selado, Mr. Sargent, being 
determined to beat Ward, pushed on for San Anto- 
nio ; and we drew up before Monger's hotel at 3 p.m., 
our mules dead beat — our driver having fulfilled his 
promise of " making his long-eared horses howl." 

* However liappy and well off tlie slaves may be as a general 
rule, yet there must be many instances (like tbat of Mr. Sargent) 
of ill-treatment and cruelty. Mr. Sargent is a Nortberner by 
birtb, and is without any of the kind feeling which is nearly 
always felt by Southerners for negroes. — July, 1863. 



sAi^r AKToino. 53 

Later in the day I walked throiigli the streets with 
McCarthy to his store, which is a very large building, 
but now desolate, every thing having been sold off. 
He was of course greeted by his numerous friends, 
and among others I saw a negro come up to him, 
shake hands, and welcome him back. 

I was introduced to Colonel Duff's brother, who 
is also a very good-looking man; but he has not 
thrown off his British nationality and become a " citi- 
zen." 

The distance from Brownsville to San Antonio is 
330 miles, and we have been 11 days and 4 hours en 
route. 

2Dth Ajpril (Saturday). — San Antonio is prettily 
situated on both banks of the river of the same name. 
It should contain about 10,000 inhabitants, and is the 
largest place in Texas, except Galveston. 

The houses are well built of stone, and they are 
generally only one or two stories high. All have 
verandas in front. 

Before the- war San Antonio was very prosperous, 
and rapidly increasing in size; but trade is now 
almost at a complete stand-still. All the male pop- 
ulation under forty are in the military service, and 
many necessary articles are at famine prices. Coffee 
costs $7 a pound. 

Menger's hotel is a large and imposing edifice, but 



54: SAK AISTONIO. 

its proprietor (a civil German) was on tlie point of 
shutting it np for the present. 

During the morning I visited Colonel Bankhead, a 
tall, gentlemanlilve Yirginian, who was commanding 
officer of the troops here. He told me a great deal 
about the Texan history, the Jesuit missions, and the 
Louisiana purchase, &c. ; and he alarmed me by 
doubting whether I should be able to cross the Mis- 
sissipjDi if Banks had taken Alexandria. 

I also made the acquaintance of Major Minter, 
another Yirginian, who told me he had served in the 
2d cavalry in the old United States army. The fol- 
lowing officers in the Confederate army were in the 
same regiment — viz., General A. S. Johnson (killed 
at Shiloh), General Lee, General Yan Dorn, General 
Hardee, General Kirby Smith, and General Hood.^ 

By the advice of McCarthy, I sent my portmanteau 
and some of my heavy things to be sold by auction, 
as I could not possibly carry them with me. 

I took my place by the stage for Alleyton (Hous- 
ton) : it cost $40 ; in old tunes it was $13. 

I dined with McCarthy and young Duff at 3 p. m. 
The latter would not hear of my paying my share of 
the expenses of the journey from Brownsville. Mrs. 
McCarthy was thrown into a great state of agitation 
and delight by receiving a letter from her mother, 

* Also tlie Federal Generals Thomas and Stoneman. 



SAN ANTOmO. 55 

who is in Yankeedom. Texas is so cut off that she 
only hears once in many months. 

Colonel and Mrs. Bankhead called for me in their 
ambulance at 5 p. m., and they drove me to see the 
source of the San Antonio, which is the most beauti- 
ful clear spring I ever saw. We also saw the exten- 
sive foundations for a tannery now being built by 
the Confederate government. 

The country is very pretty, and is irrigated in an 
ingenious manner by ditches cut from the river in all 
directions. It is thus in a great degi*ee rendered in- 
dependent of rain. 

At San Antonio spring we were entertained by a 
Major Young, a queer little naval officer, — why a 
major I couldn't discover. 

Mrs. Bankhead is a violent Southerner. She was 
twice ordered out of Memphis by the Federals on 
account of her husband's principles; but she says 
that she was treated with courtesy and kindness by 
the -Federal General Sherman, who carried out the 
orders of his government with regret. 

ll^one of the Southern people with whom I have 
spoken entertain any hopes of a speedy termination 
of the war. They say it must last all Lincoln's presi- 
dency, and perhaps a good deal longer. 

In the neighborhood of San Antonio, one-third of 
the population is German, and many of them were 
at iirst by no means loyal to the Confederate cause. 



56 SAN ANTONIO. 

They objected mucli to the conscription, and some 
even resisted by force of arms ; but these were soon 
settled by DniFs regiment, and it is said they are 
nov/ reconciled to the new regime. 

My portmanteau, with what was in it — for I gave 
away part of my things — sold for $323. Its value in 
Enojland couldn't have been more than £8 or £9. 
The portmanteau itself, which was an old one, 
fetched $51 ; a very old pair of butcher boots, $32 ; 
five shirts, $42 ; an old overcoat, $25. 

r 

"^UTh A^ril (Sunday).— At 11.30 a. m., McCarthy 
drove me in his buggy to see the San Pedro spring, 
which is inferior in beauty to the San Antonio spring. 
A troop of Texan cavalry was bivouacked there. 

We afterwards drove to the ''missions''^ of San 
Jose and San Juan, six and nine miles from the town. 
These were fortified convents for the conversion of 
the Indians, and were built by the Jesuits about one 
hundred and seventy years ago. They are now ruins, 
and the architecture is of the heavy Castilian style, 
elaborately ornamented. These missions are very 
interesting, and there are two more of them, which 
I did not see. 

In the afternoon I saw many negroes and negresses 
parading about in their Sunday clothes — silks and 
crinolines — ^much smarter than their mistresses. 

At 5 p. M. I dined with Colonel Bankhead, who 



SAlf AliTTOIsriO. 67 

gave an entertainment, whicli in these hard times 
must have cost a mint of money. About fourteen 
of the principal officers were invited ; one of them 
was Captain Mason (cousin to the London commis 
sioner), who had served under Stonewall Jackson iii 
Virginia. He said that officer was by no mean? 
popular at first. I spent a very agreeable evening, 
and heard many anecdotes of the war. One of tho 
officers sang the abolition song, " John Brown," to- 
gether with its parody, " I'm bound to be a soldier 
in the army of the South," a Confederate marching 
song, and another parody, which is a Yankee marching 
song, ""We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour-apple tree." 
Whenever I have dined with Confederate officers, 
they have nearly always proposed the Queen's health, 
and never failed to pass the highest eulogiums upon 
her majesty. 

2T^A Ajpril (Monday). — Colonel Bankhead has 
given me letters of introduction to General Bragg, 
to General Leonidas Polk, and several others. 

At 2 p. M. I called on Mrs. Bankhead to say good- 
by. She told me that her husband had two brothers 
in the ITorthern service — one in the army and the 
other in the navy. The two army brothers were both 
in the battles of Shiloh and Perryville, on opposite 
sides. The naval Bankhead commanded the Moni- 
tor when she sank. 

8* 



68 SAN ANTomo. 
introduced me to a German militia general 



in a beer-lionse this afternoon. These two had a 
slight dispute, as the latter spoke strongly in disap- 
proval of " secTet or night lynching.''^ 

The recent escapade of Captain Penaloso seems to 
have been much condemned in San Antonio. This 
individual (formerly a butcher) hanged one of his sol- 
diers a short time ago, on his own responsibility, for 
desertion and stealing a musket. This event came 
off at 12 o'clock noon, in the principal plaza of the 
city. The tree has been cut down, to show the feel- 
ings of the citizens. 

There can be no doubt that the enforcement of the 
conscription has, as a general rule, been extremely 
easy throughout the Confederacy (except among the 
Germans) ; but I hear of many persons evading it, 
by getting into some sort of government employment 
— such as contractors, agents, or teamsters to the Rio 
Grande. To my extreme regret, I took leave of my 
friend McCarthy this evening, whose hospitality and 
kindness I shall never forget. 

I left San Antonio by stage for AUeyton at 9 p. m. 
The stage was an old coach, into the interior of which 
nine persons were crammed on three transverse seats, 
besides many others on the roof. I was placed on 
the centre seat, which was extremely narrow, and I 
had nothing but a strap to support my back. An 
enormously fat German was my vis-d-vis, and a long- 



JOURNEY TO HOUSTON — A TEXAN STAGE. 69 

legged Confederate officer was in my rear. Onr first 
team consisted of four mules; we afterwards got 
horses. 

My fellow-travellers were all either military men, 
or connected with the government. 

Only jvoe out of nine chewed tobacco during the 
night; bpt they aimed at the windows with great 
accuracy, and didn't splasJi me. The amount of 
sleep I got, however, was naturally very trifling. 

^^th A^Til (Tuesday). — ^We crossed the river Gua- 
dalupe at 5 A. M., and got a change of horses. 

We got a very fair breakfast at Seguin, at 7 A. m., 
which was beginning to be a well-to-do little place 
when the war dried it up. It commenced to rain at 
Seguin, which made the road very woolly, and an- 
noyed the outsiders a good deal. 

The conversation turned a good deal upon military 
subjects, and all agreed that the system of election 
of officers had proved to be a great mistake. Ac- 
cording to their own accounts, discipline must have 
been extremely lax at first, but was now improving. 
They were most anxious to hear what was thought of 
their cause in Europe; and none of them seemed 
aware of the great sympathy which their gallantry 
and determination had gained for them in England 
in spite of slavery. "We dined at a little wooden ham- 
let called Belmont, and changed horses again there. 



60 JOURNEY TO HOUSTON. 

The country tliroiigli whicli we had been travelling 
was a good deal cultivated, and there were numerous 
farms. I saw cotton-fields for the first time. 

We amused ourselves by taking shots with our re- 
volvers at the enormous jack-rabbits which came to 
stare at the coach. 

In the afternoon tobacco-chewing became univer- 
sal, and the spitting was sometimes a little wild. 

It was the custom for the outsiders to sit round the 
top of the carriage, with their legs dangling over 
(like mutes on a hearse returning from a funeral). 
This practice rendered it dangerous to put one's head 
out of the window, for fear of a back kick from the 
heels, or of a shower of tobacco-juice from the mouths 
of the Southern chivalry on the roof In spite of 
their peculiar habits of hanging, shooting, &c., which 
seemed to be natural to people living in a wild and 
thinly-populated country, there was much to like in 
my fellow-travellers. They all had a sort of hon- 
hommie honesty and straightforwardness, a natural 
comtesy and extreme good-nature, which was very 
agreeable. Although they were all very anxious to 
talk to a European — who, in these blockaded times, 
is a rara avis — yet their inquisitiveness was never, 
ofiensive or disagreeable. 

Any doubts as to my personal safety, which may 
have been roused by my early insight into Lynch 
law, were soon completely set at rest ; for I soon per- 



JOUENET TO HOUSTON. 61 

ceived that if any one were to annoy me the re- 
mainder would stand by me as a point of honor. 

We supped at a little town called Gonzales at 6.30. 

We left it at 8 p. m. in another coach with six 
horses—big, strong animals. 

The roads being all natural ones, were much in- 
jured by the rains. 

We were all rather disgusted by the bad news we 
heard at Gonzales of the continued advance of Banks, 
and of the probable fall of Alexandria. 

The squeezing was really quite awful, but I did 
not suffer so much as the fat or long-legged ones. 
They all bore their trials in the most jovial good- 
humored manner. 

My fat vis-d-vis (in despair) changed places with 
me, my two bench-fellows being rather thinner than 
his, and I benefited much by the change into a back 
seat. 

29tk April (Wednesday). — Exhausted as I was, I 
managed to sleep wonderfully well last night. We 
breakfasted at a place called Hallettsville at 7 a. m., 
and changed carriages again. 

Here we took in four more Confederate soldiers as 
outsiders, and we were now eighteen in all. No- 
where but in this country would such a thing be 
permitted. 

Owing to the great top-weight, the coach swayed 



62 JOUEITEY TO HOTTSTON. 

about like a ship in a heavy sea, and the escapes of a 
capsize were almost miraculous. It is said that at 
the end of a Texan journey the question asked is not, 
"Have you been upset?" but, "How many tunes 
have you been upset ?" 

The value of the negroes w^orking in the fields was 
constantly appraised by my fellow-travellers ; and it 
appeared that, in Texas, an able-bodied male fetched 
$2500, whilst a well-sldHei^ seamstress was worth 
13500. 

Two of my co^npa^ions served through the late 
severe campaign m New Mexico, but they con- 
sidered forty -eight hours in a closely-packed stage 
Bj great©! hardship than any of their military ex- 
};.erie2iees. 

We passed many cotton-fields and beautiful Indian 
3orn, but much of the latter had been damaged by 
ihe hail. 

I was told that one-third of the land formerly de- 
voted to cotton is still sown with that article, the re- 
mainder being corn, &c.* 

We also passed through some very pretty country, 
full of fine post-oak and cotton trees, and we met 
many Mexican cotton-teams — some of the wagons 
with fourteen oxen or twelve mules, which were be- 
ing cruelly ill-treated by their drivers. 

♦ It is only in Texas tliat so mucli cotton is still grown. 



JOIJENEY TO nOUSTOK. 63 

We crossed several rivers with steep and difficult 
banks, and dined at a farm-house at 2.30 p. m. 

I have already discovered that, directly the bell 
rings, it is necessary to rush at one's food and bolt it 
as quickly as possible, without any ceremony or de- 
lay, otherwise it all disappears, so rapacious and so 
voracious are the natives at their meals whilst travel- 
ling. Dinner, on such occasions, in no case lasts 
more than seven minutes. 

"We reached Columbus at 6 p. m., and got rid of 
half our passengers there. These Texan towns gen- 
erally consist of one large plaza, with a well-built 
court-house on one side and an hotel opposite, the 
other two sides being filled up with wooden stores. 
All their budding prosperity has been completely 
checked by the war; but every one anticipates a 
great immigration into Texas after the peace. 

We crossed the Colorado river, and reached Alley- 
ton, our destination, at 7 p. m. 

This little wooden village has sprung into existence 
during the last three years, owing to its being the 
present terminus to the railroad. It was crammed 
full of travellers and cotton speculators ; but, as an 
especial favor, the fat German and I were given a 
bed between us. I threw myself on the bed with my 
clothes on (hien entendu), and was fast asleep in five 
minutes. In the same room there were tliree other 
beds, each with two o cupants. 



64 ALLEYTON. 

The distance from San Antonio to Alley ton is 140 
miles — time, forty-six hours. 

SOth April (Thursday). — I have to-day acquired 
my fii'st experience of Texan railroads. 

In this country, where every white man is as good 
as another (by theory), and every white female is by 
courtesy a lady, there is only one class. The train 
from AUeyton consisted of two long cars, each hold- 
ing about fifty persons. Their interior is like the 
aisle of a church, twelve seats on either side, each for 
two persons. The seats are comfortably stuffed, and 
seemed luxurious after the stage. 

Before starting, the engine gives two preliminary 
snorts, which, with a yell from the official of " all 
aboard,''^ warn the passengers to hold on ; for they 
are closely followed by a tremendous jerk, which sets 
the cars in motion. 

Every passenger is allowed to use his own discre- 
tion about breaking his arm, neck, or leg, without 
interference by the railway officials. 

People are continually jumping on and off whilst 
the train is in motion, and larking from one car to 
the other. There is no sort of fence or other obstacle 
to prevent " humans" or cattle from getting on the line. 

We left Alley ton at 8 a. m., and got a miserable 
meal at Richmond at 12.30. At this little town I 
was introduced to a seedy-looking man, in rusty black 



JOUEITEY TO HOUSTON-. 65 

clothes and a broken-down " stove-pipe" hat. This 
was Judge Stockdale, who will probably be the next 
governor of Texas. He is an agreeable man, and his 
conversation is far superior to his clothing. The ri- 
val candidate is General Chambers (I think), who 
has become very popular by the following sentence 
in his manifesto : — " I am of opinion that married 
soldiers should be given the opportunity of embracing 
their families at least once a year, their places in the 
ranks being taken by unmarried men. The popula- 
tion must not be allowed to suffer." 

Kichmond is on the Brazos river, which is crossed 
in a peculiar manner. A steep inclined plane leads 
to a low, rickety, trestle bridge, and a similar inclined 
plane is cut in the opposite bank. The engine cracks 
on all steam, and gets sufficient iinpetus in going 
down the first incline to shoot across the bridge and 
up the second incline. But even in Texas this 
method of crossing a«river is considered rather unsafe. 

After crossing the river in this manner, the rail 
traverses some very fertile land, part of which forms 
the estate of the late Colonel Terry. There are more 
than two hundred negroes on the plantation. Some 
of the fields were planted with cotton and Indian com 
mixed, three rows of the former between two of the 
latter. I saw also fields of cotton and sugar mixed. 

"We changed carriages at Harrisburg, and I com- 
pleted my journey to Houston on a cotton truck. 



6Q HOUSTON. 

The country near Houston is very pretty, and is 
studded witli white wooden villas, which are raised 
off the ground on blocks like haystacks. I reached 
Houston at 4.30 p. m., and drove to the Fannin 
House hotel. 

Houston is a much better place than I expected. 
The main street can boast of many well-built brick and 
iron houses. It was very full, as it now contained 
all the refugees from the deserted town of Galveston. 

After an extremely mild supper, I was introduced 
to Lieutenant Lee, a wounded hero, who lost his leg 
at Shiloh ; also to Colonel Pyron, a distinguished of- 
ficer, who commands the regiment named after him. 

The fat German, Mr. Lee, and myself, went to the 
theatre afterwards. 

As a great favor, my British prejudices were re- 
spected, and I was allowed a bed to myself; but the 
four other beds in the room had two occupants each. 
A captain, whose acquaintance I had made in the cars, 
slept in the next bed to me. Directly after we had 
got into bed a negro came in, who, squatting down 
between our beds, began to clean our boots. The 
Southerner pointed at the slave, and thus held forth : 
— "Well, Kernel, I reckon you've got servants in 
your country, but not of that color. ITow, sir, this 
is a real genume African. He's as happy as the 
day's long ; and if he was on a sugar plantation he'd 
be dancing half the night ; but if you was to collect 



HOIJSTOIT. 67 

a thousand of tliem together, and fire one bomb in 
amongst them, they'd all run like h — 11." The negro 
grinned, and seemed quite flattered. 

1st May (Friday). — I called on General Scurry, 
and found him suffering from severe ophthalmia. 
When I presented General Magruder's letter, he in- 
sisted that I should come and live with him so long 
as I remained here. He also telegraphed to Galves- 
ton for a steamer to take me there and back. 

"We dined at 4 p. m. : the party consisted of Colonel 
and Judge Terrill (a clever and agreeable man). Colo- 
nel Pyron, Captain Wharton, quartermaster-general, 
Major Watkins (a handsome fellow, and hero of the 
Sabine Pass affair), and Colonel Cook, commanding 
the artillery at Galveston (late of the U. S. navy, who 
enjoys the reputation of being a zealous Methodist 
preacher and a daring officer). The latter told me he 
could hardly understand how I could be an English- 
man, as I pronounced my h's all right. General 
Scurry himself is very amusing, and is an admirable 
mimic. His numerous anecdotes of the war were 
very interesting. In peace times he is a lawyer. He 
was a volunteer major in the Mexican war, and dis- 
tinguished himself very much in the late campaigns 
in IS'ew Mexico and Arizona, and at the recapture of 
Galveston. 

After dinner, the Queen's health was jproposed ; and 



68 GENERAL SAM HOUSTON. 

the party expressed tlie greatest admiration for Her 
Majesty, and respect for the British Constitution. 
They all said that universal suffrage did not produce 
such deplorable results in the South as in the North ; 
because the population in the South is so very scat- 
tered, and the whites being the superior race, they 
form a sort of aristocracy. 

They all wanted me to put off going to Galveston 
till Monday, in order that some ladies might go ; but 
I was inexorable, as it must now be my object to 
cross the Mississippi without delay. All these offi- 
cers despised sabres, and considered double-barrelled 
shot-guns and revolvers the best arms for cavalry. 

2^ May (Saturday). — As the steamer had not ar- 
rived in the morning, I left by railroad for Galveston. 
General Scurry insisted upon sending his servant to 
wait upon me, in order that I might become ac- 
quainted with " an aristocratic negro." " John" was 
a very smart fellow, and at first sight nearly as white 
as myself. 

In the cars I was introduced to General Samuel 
Houston, the founder of Texan independence. He 
told me he was born in Yirginia seventy years ago, 
that he was United States senator at thirty, and gov- 
ernor of Tennessee at thirty-six. He emigrated into 
Texas in 1832 ; headed the revolt of Texas, and de- 
feated the Mexicans at San Jacinto in 1836. He 



CAPTAIN CHUBB. 69 

then became President of the Kepublic of Texas, 
which he annexed to the United States in 1845. As 
Governor of the State in 1860, he had opposed the 
secession moyement, and was deposed. Though evi- 
dently a remarkable and clever man, he is extremely 
egotistical and vain, and much disappointed at hav- 
ing to subside from his former grandeur. The town 
of Houston is named after him. In appearance he is 
a tall, handsome old man, much given to chewing 
tobacco, and blowing his nose with his fingers.* 

I was also introduced to another " character," Cap- 
tain Chubb, who told me he was a Yankee by birth, 
and served as coxswain to the United States ship Java 
in 1827. He was afterwards imprisoned at Boston 
on suspicion of being engaged in the slave trade ; but 
he escaped. At the beginning of this war he was 
captured by the Yankees, when he was in command 
of the Confederate States steamer Royal Yacht, and 
taken to ]tTew York in chains, where he was con- 
demned to be hung as a pirate ; but he was even- 
tually exchanged. I was afterwards told that the 
slave-trading escapade of which he was accused con- 
sisted in his haying hired a colored crew at Boston, 
and then coolly selling them at Galveston. 

At 1 p. M., we arrived at Virginia Point, a tete-de- 
pont at the extremity of the mainland. Here Bates's 

* He is reported to have died in August, 1863. 



70 GALVESTON. 

battalion was encamped — called also tlie " swamp 
angels," on account of the marshy nature of their 
quarters, and of their predatory and irregular habits. 

The railroad then traverses a shallow lagoon (called 
Galveston Bay) on a trestle-bridge two miles long ; 
this leads to another tete-de-pont on Galveston island, 
and in a few mimutes the city is reached. 

In the train I had received the following message 
by telegraph from Colonel Debray, who commands 
at Galveston : " Will Col. Fremantle sleep to-night 
at the house of a blockaded rebel ?" I answered : — 
" Delighted ;" and was received at the terminus by 
Captain Foster of the Staff, who conducted me in an 
ambulance to headquarters, which were at the house 
of the Roman Catholic bishop. I was received there 
by Colonel Debray and two very gentlemanlike 
French priests. 

"We sat down to dinner at 2 p.m., but were soon 
interrupted by an indignant drayman, who came to 
complain of a military outrage. It appeared that 
immediately after I had left the cars, a semi-drunken 
Texan of Pyron's regiment had desired this drayman 
to stop, and upon the latter declining to do so, the 
Texan fired five shots at him from his " six-shooter," 
and the last shot killed the drayman's horse. Cap- 
tain Foster (who is a Louisianian, and very sarcastic 
about Texas) said that the regiment would probably 
hang the soldier for being such a disgraceful had shot. 



GALVESTOI^. Yl 

After dinner Colonel Debray took me into the ob- 
servatory, wbicb commands a good view of the city, 
bay, and gulf. 

Galveston is situated near the eastern end of an 
island thirty miles long by three and a half wide. 
Its houses are well built ; its streets are long, straight, 
and shaded with trees ; but the city was now desolate, 
blockaded, and under military law. Most of the 
houses were empty, and bore many marks of the ill- 
directed fire of the Federal ships during the night of 
the 1st of January last. 

The whole of Galveston Bay is very shallow, except 
a narrow channel of about a hmidred yards immedi- 
ately in front of the now deserted wharves. The en- 
trance to this channel is at the -northeastern extremity 
of the island, and is defended by the new works 
which are now in progress there. It is also blocked 
up with piles, torpedoes, and other obstacles. 

The blockaders were plainly visible about four 
miles from land; they consisted of three gunboats 
and an ugly paddle steamer, also two supply ves- 
sels. 

The wreck of the Confederate cotton-steamer !N"ep- 
tune (destroyed in her attack on the Harriet Lane), 
was close off one of the wharves. That of the West- 
field (blown up by the Yankee Commodore), was off 
Pelican Island. 

In the night of the 1st January, General Magruder 



T2 GALVESTON. 

suddonly entered Galveston, placed his field-pieces 
along the line of wharves, and unexpectedly opened 
fire in the dark upon the Yankee war vessels at a 
range of about one hundred yards ; but so heavy 
(though badly directed) was the reply from the ships, 
that the field-pieces had to be withdrawn. The attack 
by Colonel Cook upon a Massachusetts regiment forti- 
fied at the end of a wharf, also failed, and the Con- 
federates thought themselves " badly whipped." But 
after daylight the fortunate surrender of the Harriet 
Lane to the cotton-boat Bayou City, and the extra- 
ordinary conduct of Commodore Eenshaw, converted 
a Confederate disaster into the recapture of Galveston. 
General Magruder certainly deserves immense credit 
for his boldness in attacking a heavily armed naval 
squadron with a few field-pieces and two river steam- 
ers protected with cotton bales and manned with 
Texan cavalry soldiers. 

I rode with Colonel Debray to examine Forts 
Scurry, Magruder, Bankhead, and Point. These 
works have been ingeniously designed by Colonel 
Sulokowski (formerly in the Austrian army), and 
they were being very well constructed by one hun- 
dred and fifty whites and six hundred blacks under 
that officer's superintendence, the blacks being lent 
by the neighboring planters. 

Although the blockaders can easily approach to 
within three miles of the works, and although one 



GALVESTOIT. Y3 

shell will always " stampede" tlie negroes, yet they 
have not thrown any for a long time.* 

Colonel Debray is a broad-shouldered Frenchman, 
and is a very good fellow. He told me that he emi- 
grated to America in 1848 ; he raised a company in 
1861, in which he was only a private ; he was next 
appointed aid-de-camp to the governor of Texas, 
with the rank of brigadier-general ; he then descend- 
ed to a major of infantry, afterwards rose to a lien- 
tenant-colonel of cavalry, and is now colonel. 

Captain Foster is properly on Magrnder's Staff, 
and is very good company. His property at I^ew 
Orleans had been destroyed by the Yankees. 

In the evening we went to a dance given by Colo- 
nel Manly, which was great fan. I danced an Amer- 
ican cotillion with Mrs. Manly ; it was very violent 
exercise, and not the least like any thing I had seen 
before. A gentleman stands by shouting out the dif- 
' ferent figures to be performed, and every one obeys 
his orders with much gravity and energy. Colonel 
Manly is a very gentlemanlike Carolinian ; the ladies 
were pretty, and^ considering the blockade, they 

* Sucli a stampede did occur wlien the blockaders tlirew two or 
three shells. All the negroes ran, showing every sign of great dis- 
may, and two of them, in their terror, ran into the sea, and were 
unfortunately drowned. It is now, however, too late, for the ships 
to try this experiment, as some heavy guns are in position. A 
description of the different works is of course omitted here. 



74 GALVESTON — PYRON's EEGBIENT. 

were very well dressed. Six deserters from Banks' 
army arrived here to-daj. Banks seems to be ad- 
vancing steadily, and overcoming tlie oj^position 
offered by the liandful of Confederates in the Teclie 
coimtry. 

Banks himself is much despised as a soldier, and is 
always called by the Confederates Mr. Commissary 
Banks, on acconnt of the efficient manner in which 
he performed the dnties of that office for " Stonewall" j 
Jackson in Virginia. The officer who is supposed I 
Teally to command the advancing Federals, is "Weit- 
zel ; and he is acknowledged by all here to be an 
able man, a good soldier, and well acquainted with 
the country in which he is manoeuvring. 

Zd May (Sunday). — I paid a long visit this morn- 
ing to Mr. Lynn the British Consul, who told me 
that he had great difficulty in communicating with \ 
the outer world, and had seen no British man-of-war 
since the Immortalite. 

At 1.30 1 sawPyron's regiment embark for Mblitt's 
Bluff to meet Banks. This corps is now dismounted 
cavalry, and the procession was a droll one. First 
came eight or ten instruments braying discordantly 
then an enormous Confederate flag, followed by about 
four hundred men moving by fours — dressed in every 
variety of *costume, and armed with every variety of 
weapon ; about sixty had Enfield rifles ; the remain- 



W 



HOUSTOiq". 75 

der carried sliot-guns (fowling-pieces), carbines, or 
long rifles of a peculiar and antiquated niannfacture. 
N'one had swords or' bayonets — all bad six-sbooters 
and bowie-knives. The men were a fine, determined- 
looking lot ; and I saw among tbem a short stout boy 
of* fourteen, who had served through the Arizona 
campaign. I saw many of the soldiers take off their 
hats to the French priests, v/ho seemed much respect- 
ed in Galveston. This regiment is considered down 
here to be a very good one, and its colonel is spoken 
of as one of the bravest officers in the army. The 
regiment was to be harangued by Old Houston be- 
fore it embarked.^ 

In getting into the cars to return to Houston, I 
was nearly forced to step over the dead body of the 
horse shot by the soldier yesterday, and which the 
authorities had not thought necessary to remove. 

I got back to General Scurry's house at Houston 
at 4.30 p. M. The general took me out for a drive in 
his ambulance, and I saw innumerable negroes and 
negresses parading about the streets in the most out- 
rageously grand costumes — silks, satins, crinolines, 
hats with feathers, lace mantles, &c., forming an ab- 
t sm'd contrast to the simple di'esses of their mistresses. 

* At tlie outbreak of the war it was found very difScult to raise 
infantry in Texas, as no Texan walks a yard if he can help it. 
Many mounted regiments were therefore organized, and after- 
wards dismounted. 



76 JOUEl^ET TO SHEIEVEPOET. 

Many were driving about in tlieir master's carriages, 
or riding on horses wliicli are often lent to them on 
Sunday afternoons ; all seemed intensely happy and 
satisfied with themselves. 

told me that old Sam Houston lived for 

several years amongst the Cherokee Indians, who 
used to call him " the "Raven" or the " Big Drunk." * 
He married an Indian squaw when he was with 
them. 

Colonel Ives, aid-de-camp to the President, has 
just arrived from Richmond, and he seems a very 
well-informed and agreeable man. 

I have settled to take the route to Shrieveport to- 
morrow, as it seems doubtful whether Alexandria 
will or will not fall. 

4:t/i May (Monday). — General Scurry's servant ^ 
" John" had been most attentive since he had been 
told off to me. I made him a present of my evening i 
clothes, which gratified him immensely ; and I shook 
hands with him at parting, which seems to be quite 
the custom. The Southern gentlemen are certainly ^ 
able to treat their slaves with extraordinary famil- 1 
iarity and kindness. John told me that the General ' 
would let him buy his freedom whenever he chose, i 
He is a barber by trade, and was earning much*- 1 
money when he insisted on rejoining his master and iij 
going to the wars. J 



1 



JOTJENEY TO SHEIEVEPOET. 'TT 

I left Houston by train for Navasoto at 10 A. m. A 
Paptain Andrews accompanied me tlins far : lie was 
^oing with a troop of cavalry to impress one-fourth 
>f the negroes on the plantations for the Government 
|7orks at Galveston, the ]3lanters having been back- 
(^^ard in coming forward with their darkies. 
\ Arrived at jN^avasoto (70 miles) at 4 p. m., where I 
,ook a stage for Shrieveport (250 miles). I started 
tt 4.30 p. M., after having had a little dispute with a 
Aan for a corner seat, and beating him. 
J It was the same sort of vehicle as the San Antonio 
ine — eight people inside. During the night there 
jras a thimderstorm. 



6th May (Tuesday). — ^We breakfasted at Hunts- 
lille at 5.30 a. m. The Federal officers captured in 
he Harriet Lane are confined in the penitentiary 
here, and are not treated as prisoners of war. This 
eems to be the system now with regard to offi- 
ers since the enlistment of negroes by the ISTorth- 
ijrners. 
My fellow-travellers were mostly elderly planters 
legislators, and there was one judge from Louis- 
[a,na. One of them produced a pair of boots which 
ad cost him $100 ; another showed me a common 
[ide-awake hat which had cost him $40. In Hous- 
pn, I myself saw an English regulation infantry 
^ord exposed for sale for $225 (£45). 



78 JOUENET TO SHPwIEVEPOET. 

As tlie military element did not predominate, my 
companions nnited in speaking witli horror of the 
depredations committed in this part of the country 
by their own troops on a line of march. 

We passed through a well-wooded coimtry — pines 
and post-oaks — the road bad: crossed the river 
Trinity sit 12 noon, and dined at the honse of a dis- 
repntable-looking individual, called a Campbeliite 
minister, at 4.30 p. m. The food consisted almost in- 
variably of bacon, corn bread, and buttermilk: a 
meal costing a dollar. 

Arrived at Crockett at 9.30 p. m., where we halted 
for a few hours. K filthy "bed was given to the Lou- 
isianian Judge and myself. The Judge, following 
my example, took to it boots and all, remarking, as 
he did so, to the attendant negro, that " they were a 
d d sight cleaner than the bed." 

Eefore reaching Crockett, we passed through the 
encampment of Phillipps's regiment of Texas Ean- 
gers, and we underwent much chaff. They were en 
roide to resist Banks. 

Qtth If ay (Wednesday). — TVe left all the passengers 
at Crockett except the Louisianian Judge,«a Govern- 
ment agent, and the ex-boatswain of the Harriet Lane, 
which vessel had been manned by the Confederates 
after her capture ; but she had since been dismantled, 
'lid her crew were being marched to Shrieveport to 



JOIJENEY TO SimiEVEPOET. Y9 

man the iron-clad Missoiirij wliicli ^ -u^as being built 
there. 

The food we get on the road is sufficient, and good 
enough to support life ; it consists of pork or bacon, 
bread made with Indian corn, and a peculiar mixture 
called Confederate coffee, made of rje, meal, Indian 
corn, or sweet potatoes. The loss of coffee alSiicts the 
Confederates even more than the loss of spirits ; and 
they exercise their ingenuity in devising substitutes, 
which are not generally very successful. 

The same sort of country as yesterday, viz. — ^large 
forests of pines and post-oaks, and occasional Indian- 
corn fields, the trees having been killed by cutting a 
I circle near the roots. At 3 p. m., v/e took in four 

more passengers. One of them was a Major , 

brother-in-law to , who hanged Mongomery at 

Brownsville. He spoke of the exploit of his relative 
with some pride. He told me that his three brothers 
had lost an arm" apiece in the war. 

We arrived at Eusk at 6.30 p. m., and spent a few 
hours there ; but notwithstanding the boasted splen- 
dor of the beds at the Cherokee Hotel, and although 

by Major 's influence I got one to myself, yet 

I did not consider its aspect sufficiently inviting to 
induce me to remove my clothes. 

^th May (Thursday). — ^We started again at 1.30 
A. M., in a smaller coach, but luckily with reduced 



80 JOUENEY TO SSKlEVEPOltT. 

numbers, — viz., the Louisianian Judge (who is also a 
legislator), a Mississippi planter, the boatswain, the 
government agent, and a Captain Williams, of the 
Texas Rangers. 

Before the day broke we reached a bridge over a 
stream called Mud Creek, which was in such a dilap- 
idated condition that all hands had to get out and 
cover over the biggest holes with planks. 

The government agent informed us that he still 

held a commission as adjutant-general to . The 

latter, it appears, is a cross between a guerilla and a 
horse thief, and, even by his adjutant-general's ac- 
count, he seems to be an equal adept at both pro- 
fessions. The accounts of his forays in Arkansas 
were highly amusing, but rather strongly seasoned 
for a legitimate soldier. 

The Judge was a very gentlemanlike nice old man. 
Both he and the adjutant-general were much knocked 
up by the journey ; but I revived the former with 
the last of the Immortalite rum. The latter was in 
very weak health, and doesn't expect to live long; 
but he ardently hoped to destroy a few more " blue- 
bellies"* before he " goes under." 

The Mississippi planter had abandoned his estate 
near Yicksburg, and withdrawn with the remnant of 
his slaves into Texas. The Judge also had lost all his 

* The Union soldiers are called " bluebellies" on account of their 
blue uniforms. These often call the Confederates " graybacks." 



JOUENEY 10 olIlJEVEPOET. 81 

property in 'New Orleans. In fact, every other man 
one meets lias been more or less ruined since the war, 
but all speak of their losses with the greatest equa- 
nimity. Captain Williams was a tall, cadaverous back- 
woodsman, who had lost hiB health in the war. He 
spoke of the Federal General Rosecrans with great 
respect, and he passed the following high encomium 
upon the ISTorthwestern troops, under Bosecrans' 
command — 

" They're reglar great big h — Usnorters, the same 
breed as ourselves. They don't want no running 
after, — ^they don't. They ain't no Dutch cavalry — * 
you bet ! " 

To my surprise all the party were willing to agree 
that, a few years ago, most educated men in the 
South regarded slavery as a misfortune and not justi- 
fiable, though necessary under the circumstances. 
But the meddling, coercive conduct of the detested 
and despised abolitionists had caused the bonds to be 
drawn much tighter. 

My fellow-travellers of all classes are much given 
to talk to me about their " peculiar institution," and 
they are most anxious that I should see as much of it 
as possible, in order that I may be convinced that it 
is not so bad as has been represented, and that they 
are not all " Legrees," although they do not attempt 

* German dragoons, mucli despised by the Texans on account of 

their style of riding. 

4* 



82 JOUENET TO SHEIEVEPOET. 

to deny that tliere are many instances of cruelty. 
But tliey say a man who is known to illtreat his ne- 
groes is hated by all the rest of the community. 
They declare that Yankees make the worst masters 
when they settle in the South ; and all seem to be 
perfectly aware that slavery, which they did not in- 
vent, but which they inherited from us (English), is 
and always will be the great bar to the sympathy of 
the civilized world. I have heard these words nsed 
over and over again. 

All the villages through which we passed were de- 
serted except by women and very old men; their 
aspect was most melancholy. The country is sandy, 
and the land not fertile, but the timber is fine. 

We met several planters on the road, who with 
their families and negroes were taking refuge in Texas, 
after having abandoned their plantations in Lonisiana 
on the approach of Eanks. One of them had as 
many as sixty slaves with him of all ages and sizes. 

At 7 p. iJ. we received an unwelcome addition to 
our party, in the shape of three huge, long-legged, 
unwashed, odoriferous Texan soldiers, and we passed 
a wretched night in consequence. The Texans are 
certainly not prone to take offence where they see 
none is intended ; for when this irruption took place, 
I couldn't help remarking to the Judge, with regard 
to the most obnoxious man who was occupying the 
centre seat to our mutual discomfort, — " I say. Judge, 



SHEIEVEPOST GENEEAL KIEBT SMITH. 83 

this gentleman has got the longest legs I ever saw." 
" Has he ?" replied the Judge ; " and he has got the 
d — dest, longest, hardest back I ever felt." The 
Texan was highly amnsed by these remarks npon his 
personal appearance, and apologized for his peculiar- 
ities. Crossed the Sabine river at 11.30 p. m. 

%tJi May (Friday). — "We reached Marshall at 3 A. m., 
and got four hours' sleep there. "We then got into a 
railroad for sixteen miles, after which we were cram- 
med into another stage. 

Crossed the frontier into Louisiana at 11 A. m. I 
have therefore been nearly a month getting through 
the single State of Texas. Eeached Shrieveport at 
3 p. M. ; and, after washing for the first time in ^yq 
days, I called on Gen. Kirby Smith, who commands 
the whole country on tMs side of the Mississippi. 

He is a Floridian by birth, was educated at West 
Point, and served in the United States cavalry. He 
is only thirty-eight years old ; and he owes his rapid 
rise to a lieutenant-general to the fortunate fact of 
his having fallen, just at the very nick of time, upon 
the Yankee fiank at the first battle of Manassas.* 

He is a remarkably active man, and of very 
agreeable manners; he wears big spectacles and 
a black beard. 

* CaHed by the Yankees "BuU Run." 



84: SHEIEVEPORT. 

His wife is an extremely pretty woman, from Bal- 
timore, but she had cut lier hair quite short like a 
man's. In the evening she proposed that we should 
go down to the river and fish for cray-fish. We did 
so, and were most successful, the General displaying 
much energy on the occasion. 

He told me that M'Clellan might probably have 
destroyed the Southern army with the greatest ease 
during the first winter, and without running much 
risk to himself, as the Southerners were so much 
over-elated by their easy triumph at Manassas, and 
their army had dwindled away. 

I was introduced to Governor Moore, of Louisiana, 
to the Lieutenant-governor Hyams, and also to the 
exiled Governor of Missouri, Eeynolds. 

Governor Moore told me he had been on the Red 
River since 1824, from which date until 1840 it had 
been very unhealthy. He thinks that Dickens must 
have intended Shrieveport by " Eden."* 

Governor Eeynolds, of Missouri, told me he found 
himself in the unfortunate condition of a potentate 
exiled from his dominions ; but he showed me an ad- 
dress which he had issued to his Missourians, prom- 
ising to be with them at the head of an army to de- 
liver them from their oppressors. 

* I believe tliis is a mistake of Governor Moore. I liave always 
understood Cairo was Eden. 



JOURNEY TimOUGH LOUISIANA. 86 

Shrieveport is rather a decent-looking place on the 
Bed Eiver. It contains about 3,000 inhabitants, and 
is at present the seat of the Loiiisianian Legislature 
vice Baton Eouge. But only twenty-eight members 
of the Lower House had arrived as yet, and business 
could not be commenced with less than fifty. 

The river now is broad and rapid, and it is naviga- 
ted by large steamers ; its banks are low and very 
fertile, but reputed to be very unhealthy. 

General Kirby Smith advised me to go to Munroe, 
and try to cross the Mississippi from thence ; he was 
so uncertain as to Alexandria that he was afraid to 
send a steamer so far. 

I heard much talk at his house about the late Fed- 
eral raid into the Mississippi,* which seems to be a 
copy of John Morgan's operations, except that the 
Federal raid was made in a thinly populated country, 
bereft of its male inhabitants. 

9th May (Saturday). — Started again by stage for 
Munroe at 4.30 a. m. My companions were, the 
Mississippi planter, a mad dentist from ISTew Orleans 
(called, by courtesy, doctor), an old man from Mat- 
agorda, buying slaves cheap in Louisiana, a wounded 
officer, and a wounded soldier. 

The soldier was a very intelligent young Missourian, 

* Grierson's raid. 



86 JOTJKXEY THROUGH LOUISIANA. 

wlio told me (as others liave) that, at tlie commence- 
ment of these troubles, both he and his family were 
strong Unionists. But the Lincolnites, by using co- 
ercion, had forced them to take one side or the other 
- — and there are now no more bitter Secessionists than 
these people. This soldier (Mr. Douglas) was on his 
way to rejoin Bragg's army. A Confederate soldier 
when wounded is not given his discharge, but is em- 
ployed at such work as he is competent to perform. 
Mr. Douglas was quite lame ; but will be employed 
at mounted duties or at writing. 

We passed several large and fertile plantations. 
The negro quarters formed little villages, and seemed 
comfortable : some of them held 150 or 200 hands. 
"We afterwards drove through some beautiful pine 
forests, and were ferried across a beautiful shallow 
lake full of cypresses, but not the least like European 
cypress-trees. 

We met a nmnber more planters driving their fam- 
ilies, their slaves, and farniture, towards Texas — ^in 
fact, every thing that they could save from the ruin 
that had befallen them on the approach of the Fed- 
eral troops. 

At 5 p. M. we reached a charming little town, called 
Mindon, where I met an English mechanic who de- 
plored to me that he had been such a fool as to natu- 
ralize himself, as he was in hourly dread of the con- 
scription. 



walkee's division. 87 

I have at length become quite callous to many of 
the horrors of stage travelling. I no longer shrink at 
every random shower of tobacco-juice ; nor dd I shud- 
der when good-naturedly, offered a quid. I eat vo- 
raciously of the bacon that is provided for my suste- 
nance, and I am invariably treated by my fellow- 
travellers of all grades with the greatest consideration 
and kindness. Sometimes a man remarks that it is 
rather " mean" of England not to recognize the South ; 
but I can always shut him up by saying, that a nation 
which deserves its independence should fight and earn 
it for itself — a sentiment which is invariably agreed 
to by all. 

10th May (Sunday). — I spent a very rough night 
in consequence of the badness of the road, the jolting 
of the carriage, and having to occupy a centre seat. 

In the morning we received news from eveiy one 
we met of the fall of Alexandria. 

The road to-day was alive with negroes, who are 
being "run" into Texas out of Banks' way. We 
must have met hundreds of them, and many families 
of planters, who were much to be pitied, especially 
the ladies. 

On approaching Munroe, we passed through the 
camp of Walker's division (8,000 strong), which was 
on its march from Arkansas to meet Banks. The 
division had embark od in steamers, and had already 



88 MUNROE. 

started down the " Wacliita" towards the Eed Eiver, 
when the news arrived of the fall of Alexandria, and 
of the presence of Federal gunboats in or near the 
"Wachita itself. This caused the precipitate return 
and disembarkation of Walker's division. The men 
^iwere well armed with rifles and bayonets, but they 
were dressed in ragged civilian clothes. The old 
Matagorda man recognized his son in one of these 
regiments — a perfect boy. 

Munroe is on the " Wachita" (pronounced Wash- 
taw), which is a very pretty and wide stream. After 
crossing it we arrived at the hotel after dark. 

Universal confusion reigned there ; it was full of 
officers and soldiers of Walker's division, and no per- 
son would take the slightest notice of us. 

In desperation I called on General Ilebert, who 
commanded the post. I told him who I was, and 
gave him a letter of introduction, which I had fortu- 
nately brought from Kirby Smith. I stated my hard 
case, and besought an asylum for the night, which he 
immediately accorded me in his own house. 

The difficulty of crossing the Mississippi appeared 
to increase the nearer I got to it, and General ITebert 
told me that it was very doubtful whether I could 
cross at all at this point. The Yankee gunboats, 
which had forced their way past Yicksburg and Port 
Hudson, were roaming about the Mississippi and Red 
Hiver, and some of them were reported at the entrance 



GENERAL HESEBT. 89 

of the "Wachita itself, a small fort at Harrisonburg 
being the only impediment to tlieir appearance in 
front of Munroe. 

On another side, tbe enemy's forces were close to 
Delhi, only forty miles distant. 

There were forty or fifty Yankee deserters here 
from the army besieging Yicksbnrg. These Yankee 
deserters, on being asked their reasons for deserting, 
generally reply, — " Our government has broken faith 
with us. We enlisted to fight for the Union, and 
not to liberate the G — d d — d niggers." Yicksburg 
is distant from this place about eighty miles. 

The news of General Lee's victory at Chancellors- 
ville had just arrived here. Every one received it 
very coolly, and seemed to take it quite as a matter 
of course ; but the wound of Stonewall Jackson was 
universally deplored. 

11th May (Monday). — General Hebert is a good- 
looking Creole.* He was a West-Pointer, and served 
in the old army, but afterwards became a wealthy 
sugar-planter. He used to hold Magruder's position 
as commander-in-chief in Texas, but he has now been 
shelved at Munroe, where he expects to be taken 
prisoner any day; and, from the present gloomy 

* The descendants of the French colonists in Louisiana are called 
Creoles ; most of them talk French, and I have often met Lonisi- 
i anian regiments talking that language. 



90 PASSAGE DOWK THE WACHITA. 

aspect of affairs about here, it seems extremely prob- 
able tbat he will not be disappointed in his expecta- 
tions. He is extremely down upon England for not 
recognizing the South/'^ 

He gave me a passage down the river in a steamer, 
which was to try to take provisions to Harrisonbnrg ; 
but, at the same time, he informed me that she might 
very probably be captnred by a Yankee gunboat. 

At 1 p. M. I embarked for Harrisonburg, which is 
distant from Mmn-oe by water 150 miles, and by land 
75 miles. It is fortified, and offers what was con- 
sidered a weak obstruction to the passage of the gun- 
boats up the river to Munroe. 

The steamer was one of the curious American river 
boats, which rise to a tremendous height out of the 
water, like great wooden castles. She vras steered 
from a box at the very top of all, and this particular 
one was propelled by one wheel at her stern. 

The river is quite beautiful ; it is from 200 to SOO 
yards broad, very deep and tortuous, and the large 
trees grow right down to the very edge of the water. 

Our captain at starting expressed in very plain 

* Greneral Hcbert is tlie only man of education I met in tlie 
whole of my travels wlio spoke disagreeably about England in tliis 
respect. IMost people say tliey tliink we are quite rigbt to keep 
out of it as long as we can ; but others tliink our government is 
foolisli to miss such a splendid chance of " smashing the Yankees," 
with whom we must have a row sooner or later. 



PASSAGE DOWN THE WACHITA. 91 ti 

terms Ms extreme disgust at the expedition, and said i 
lie fuUj expected to run against a gunboat at any j 
turn of the river. > 

Soon after leaving Munroe, we passed a large plan- i 
tation. The negro quarters were larger than a great \ 
many Texan to vvnis, and they held three hundred hands. | 

After we had proceeded about half an hour, we i 
were stopped by a mounted orderly (called a courier), j 
who from the bank roared out the pleasing informa- ; 
tion, "They're a-fighting at Harrisonburg." The I 
captain on hearing this turned quite green in the face, 
and remarked that he'd be " dogged" if he liked run- , 
ning into the jaws of a lion, and he proposed to turn ] 
back ; but he was jeered at by my fellow-travellers, ] 
who were all either officers or soldiers, wishing to- j 
cross the Mississipjpi to rejoin their regiments in the • 
different Confederate armies. I 

One pleasant fellow, more warlike than the rest, i 
suggested that as we had some Enfields on board, we ! 
should make " a little bit of a fight," or at least : 
" make one butt at a gunboat." I was relieved to \ 
find that these insane proposals were not received j 
with any enthusiasm by the majority. 

The plantations, as vre went further down the | 
river, looked very prosperous ; but signs of prepara- j 
tions for immediate skedaddling were visible in most j 
of them, and I fear they are all destined to be soon ; 
desolate and destroyed. * 



92 PASSAGE DOWN THE WACHITA. 

We came to a courier picket every sixteen miles. 
At one of tliem we got the information, " Gunboats 
drove back," at which there was great rejoicing, and 
the captain, recovering his spirits, became qnite jocose, 
and vohmteered to give me letters of introduction to 
a " particular friend of his about here, called Mr. Far- 
ragut ;" but the next news, " Still a-fightin'," caused 
us to tie ourselves to a tree at 8 p. m., off a little vil- 
lage called Columbia, which is half-way between 
Munroe and Harrisonburg. 

"We then lit a large fire, round which all the pas- 
sengers squatted on their heels in Texan fashion, each 
man whittling a piece of wood, and discussing the 
merits of the different Yankee prisons at New Orleans 
or Chicago. One of them, seeing me, called out, " I 
reckon. Kernel, if the Yankees catch you with us, 
they'll say you're in d — d bad company ;" which sally 
caused universal hilarity. 

12tJi May (Tuesday). — Shortly after daylight three 
negroes arrived from Harrisonburg, and they describ- 
ed the fight as still going on. They said they were 
"dreadful skeered;" and one of them told me he 
would " rather be a slave to his master all his life, 
than a white man and a soldier." 

During the morning some of the officers and sol- 
diers left the boat, and determined to cut across coun- 
try to Harrisonburg, but I would not abandon the 



PASSAGE DOWK THE WACHITA. 9 

scanty remains of my baggage until I was forced t 
do so. 

During the morning twelve more negroes arrive" 
from Harrisonburg. It appears that three hundred c 
them, the property of neighboring planters, had bee] 
engaged working on the fortifications, but they al 
with one accord bolted when the first shell v/as firec 
Their only idea and hope at present seemed to be t 
get back to their masters. All spoke of the Yankee 
with great detestation, and expressed wishes to hav 
nothing to do with such " bad people." 

Our captain coolly employed them in tearing dow 
the fences, and carrying the wood away on board th 
steamer for firewood. 

"We did nothing but this all day long, the captai 
being afraid to go on, and unwilling to return. I: 
the evening a new alarm seized him — ^viz., that th 
Federal cavalry had cut off the Confederate line c 
couriers. During the night we remained in the sam 
position as last night, head up stream, and ready t 
be ofi' at a moment's notice."^ i 

ISth May (Wednesday). — There was a row on boar 
last night ; one of the officers having been too attei 

* One of the passengers on board this steamer was Captai 
Barney, of the Confederate States Navy, who has since, I b 
lieve, succeeded Captain Maffit in the command of the Fl 
rida. ' ' 



94 HAKEISOIS^BUEG. 

tive to a lady, had to skedaddle suddenly into tlie 
woods, in order to escape the fury of her protector, 
and he has not thought it advisable to reappear. My 
trusty companion for several days, the poor young 
Missourian, was taken ill to-day, and told me he had 
a " Tiglit smart little fever on him." I doctored him 
with some of the physic which Mr. Maloney had 
given me, and he got better in the evening. 

We had pickets out in the woods last night. ' Two 
of my fellow-travellers on that duty fell in with a 
negro, and pretending they were Yankees, asked him 
to join them. He consented, and even volunteered 
to steal his master's horses ; and he then received a 
tremendous thrashing, administered by the two sol- 
diers with their ramrods. 

At 9 p. M., to the surprise of all, the captain sud- 
denly made up his mind to descend the river at all 
hazards, thinking, I suppose, that any thing was better 
than the uncertainty of the last twenty-four hours. 

The further we went, the more beautiful was the 
scenery. 

At 4 p. M. we were assured by a citizen on the bank 
that the gunboats really had retreated ; and at 5.30 
our doubts were set at rest, to our great satisfaction, 
by descrying the Confederate flag flying from Fort 
Beauregard, high above the little town of Harrison- 
burg. After w^e had landed, I presented my letter of 
introduction from General Hebert to Colonel Logan, 



HAEEISONBUEG. 95 j 

who commands tlie fort. He introduced me to a i 
German officer, tlie engineer. ' 

Tliej gave me an account of the attack and repulse 
of the four Federal gunboats under Commodore 
"Woodford, and supposed to have been the Pittsburg i 
( ronclad), the General Price, the Ari25ona, and an- ; 
other. ' 

Fort Beauregard is a much more formidable look- 
ing work than I expected to see, and its strength had 
evidently been much underrated at Munroe. 

A hill 190 feet high, which rises just in rear of j 
Harrisonburg, has been scarped and fortified. It is i 
situated at an angle of the river, and faces a long i 
"reach" of two miles. ■ 

The gunboats, after demanding an unconditional - 
surrender, v/hich was treated with great contempt by : 
Colonel Logan, opened fire at 2 p. si. on Sunday, and \ 
kept it up till 6.30, throwing about one hundred and j 
fifty 9 and 11 inch shell. The gunboats reopened , 
again for about an hour on Monday afternoon, when 
they finally withdrew, the Arizona being crippled. ; 

The fort fired altogether about forty-five 32-pound I 
shot (smooth bore). The range was about a mile. i 

The garrison thought that they had loosened sev- I 
eral of the Pittsburg's iron-plates. They felt confi- ! 
dent they could have sunk the wooden vessels if they ^ 
had attempted to force the passage ; and they were | 
naturally much elated with their success, which cer- 



96 ' HAERISONBUBG. 

tainlj had not been anticipated on board mj steamer 
or at Munroe. 

I Iiad not time to visit tbe interior of the fort, but 
I saw the effect of the shell upon the outside. Those 
which fell in the sand did not burst. Only three 
men were wounded in the garrison. They told me 
the deck of the Pittsburg was furnished with a para- 
pet of cotton-bales for riflemen. 

The river at Harrisonburg is about 160 yards broad, 
and very deep, with a moderate current. The town, 
being between the vessels and the fort, had, of course, 
suffered considerably during the bombardment. 

When the works are complete they will be much 
more formidable. 

To our great joy Colonel Logan decided that our 
vessel should proceed at once to Trinity, which is fif- 
teen miles nearer J^atchez (on the Mississippi) than 
Harrisonburg. "We arrived there at 8 p. m., and 
found that the gunboats had only just left, after hav- 
ing destroyed all the molasses and rum they could 
find, and carried away a few negroes. 

Six of us pigged in one very small room, paying a 
dollar each for this luxury to an old woman, who was 
most inhospitable, and told us " she didn't want to 
see no soldiers, as the Yanks would come back and 
burn her house for harboring rebels." I am always 
taken for a Confederate officer, partly from being in 
their company, and partly on account of my clothes. 



JOURNEY THEOUGH THE SWAMPS. 97 

wliicli happen to be a gray shooting-suit, almost the 
same color as most of the soldiers' coats. 

lUh May (Thursday). — The officers and soldiers, 
about thirty in number, who came down the Wachita 
in my company, determined to proceed to Natchez 
to-day, and a very hard day's work we had of it. 

As the Louisianian bank of the Mississippi is com- 
pletely overflowed at this time of year, and the river 
itself is infested with the enemy's gunboats, which 
have run past Yicksburg and Port Hudson, the pas- 
sage can only be made by a tedious journey in small 
boats through the swamps and bayous. 

Our party left Trinity at 6 a. m. in one big yawl 
and three skiffs. In my skiff were eight persons, be- 
sides a negro oarsman named " Tucker." We had to 
take it in turns to row with this worthy, and I soon 
discovered to my cost the inconvenience of sitting in 
close proximity with a perspiring darkie. This negro 
was a very powerful man, very vain and susceptible 
of flattery. I won his heart by asking him if he 
wasn't worth 6,000 dollars. We kept him up to the 
mark throughout the journey by plying him with 
compliments upon his strength and skill. One offi- 
cer declared to him that he should try to marry his 
mistress (a widow) on purpose to own him. 

After beating up for about eight miles against one 
of three streams which unite at, and give its name to, 



98 JOTJENEY THEOUGH THE SWAMPS. 

Trinity, we turned off to tlie riglit, and got into a 
large dense swamp. The thicket was so tangled and 
impenetrable that we experienced the greatest diffi- 
culty in forcing om' way throngh it ; we were often 
obliged to get into the water up to our middles and 
shove, whilst most of the party walked along an em- 
bankment. 

After two hours and a half of this sort of work we 
had to carry our boats bodily over the embankment 
into a bayou called Log Bayou, on account of the nu- 
merous floating logs which had to be encountered. 
We then crossed a large and .beautiful lake, which led 
us into another dismal swamp, quite as tangled as the 
former one. Here we lost our way, and got aground 
several times ; but at length, after great exertions, we 
forced ourselves through it, and reached Lake Con- 
cordia, a fine piece of water, several miles in extent, 
and we were landed at dusk on the plantation of a 
Mr. Davis. These bayous and swamps abound with 
alligators and snakes of the most venomous descrip- 
tion. I saw many of the latter swimming about ex- 
posed to a heavy fire of six-shooters ; but the alliga- 
tors were frightened away by the leading boat. 

The yawl and one of the skiffs beat us, and their 
passengers reached JSTatchez about 9 p. m., but the 
other skiff, which could not boast of a Tucker, was 
lost in the swamp, and passed the night there in a 
wretched plight. 



JOTJENET THEOUGH THE SWAMPS. 99 

The weather was most disagreeable, either a burn- 
ing sTin or a downpour of rain. 

The distance we did in the skiff was about twenty- 
eight miles, which took us eleven hours to perforin. 

On landmg we hired at Mr. Davis's a small cart 
for Mr. Douglas (the wounded Missourian) and our 
baggage, and we had to finish the day by a trudge of 
three miles through deep mud, until, at length, we 
reached a place called Yidalia, which is on the Lou- 
isianian bank of the Mississippi, just opposite J^atchez. 

At Yidalia I got the immense luxury of a pretty 
good bed, all to myself^ which enabled me to take off 
my clothes and boots for the first time in ten days. 

The landlord told us that three of the enemy's gun- 
boats had passed during the day ; and as he said their 
crews were often in the habit of landing at Yidalia, 
he cautioned the military to be ready to bolt into the 
woods at any time during the night. 

There were two conscripts on board my skiff to- 
day, one an Irishman and the other a Pole. They 
confessed to me privately their extreme dislike of the 
military profession ; but at the same time they ac- 
knowledged the enthusiasm of the masses for the war. 

\^ih May (Friday). — I nearly slept round the clock 
after yesterday's exertions. Mr. Douglas and I 
crossed the father of rivers and landed on the Mis- 
sissippi bank at 9 a. m. 



i 



100 NATCHEZ. 

]^atcliez is a pretty little town, and ouglit to con- 
tain about 6,000 inhabitants. It is bnilt on the top 
of a Iiigb bluff overlooking the Mississippi river, which 
is about three quarters of a mile broad at this point. 

When I reached Natchez I hired a carriage, and, 
with a letter of introduction which I had brought 
from San Antonio, I drove to the house of Mr. Hal- 
ler l!Tutt, distant from the town about two miles. 

The scenery about ISTatchez is extremely pretty, 
and the ground is hilly, with plenty of fine trees. 
Mr. l^utt's place reminded me very much of an Eng- 
lish gentleman's country seat, except that the house 
itself is rather like a pagoda, but it is beautifully fur- 
nished. 

Mr. ITutt was extremely civil, and was most anx- 
ious that I should remain at ITatchez for a few days ; 
but now that I was thoroughly wound up for trav- 
elling, I determined to push on to Yicksburg, as all 
the late news seemed to shov7 that some great op- 
erations must take place there before long. 

I had fondly imagined that after reaching !N'atchez 
my difficulties would have been over; but I very soon 
discovered that this was a delusive hope. I found 
that l^atchez was full of the most gloomy rumors. 
Another Yankee raid seemed to have been made into 
the interior of Mississippi, more railroad is reported 
to be destroyed, and great doubts were expressed 
whether I should be able to get into Yicksburg at all. 



NATCHEZ. 101 

However, as I found some other people as deter- 
mined to proceed as myself, we hired a carriage for 
$100 to drive to Brookhaven, whicli is tlie nearest 
point on the railroad, and is distant from J^atcliez Q6 
miles. 

My companions were a fat Government contractor 
from Texas, the wounded Missourian Mr. Dojiglas, 
and an ugly woman, wife to a soldier in Yicksburg. 

We left ISTatchez at 12 noon, and were driven by a 
negro named l!Telson ; the carriage and the three horses 
belong to him, and he drives it for his own profit ; 
but he is, nevertheless a slave, and pays his owner 
$4J a-week to be allowed to work on his own ac- 
count. He was quite as vain as and even more 
amusing than Tucker. He said he " didn't want to 
see no Yanks, nor to be no freer than he is ;" and he 
thought the war had already lasted four or ^ve years. 

Every traveller we met on the road was eagerly 
asked the questions, " Are the Yanks in Brookhaven ? 
Is the railroad open ?" At first we received satisfac- 
tory replies ; but at 6 p. m. we met an officer driving 
towards ^Natchez at a great pace ; he gave us the 
alarming intelligence that Jackson was going to be 
evacuated. Now, as Jackson is the capital city of 
this State, a great railroad junction, and on the high- 
road to every civilized place from this, our feelings 
may be imagined, but we did not believe it possible. 
On the other hand we were told that General Joseph 



102 NATCHEZ TO BEOOKHAVEN. 

Johnston had arrived and assumed the command in 
Mississippi. lie a]3pears to be an officer in whom 
eyerj one places unbounded confidence. 

We slept at a farm-house. All the males were ab- 
sent at the war, and it is impossible to exaggerate 
the unfortunate condition of the women left behind 
in th§se farm-houses ; they have scarcely any clothes, 
and nothing but the coarsest bacon to eat, and are in 
miserable uncertainty as to the fate of their relations, 
whom they can hardly ever communicate with. Their 
slaves, however, generally remain true to them. 

Our hostess, though she was reduced to the great- 
est distress, was well-mannered, and exceedingly 
well educated ; very far superior to a woman of her 
station in England. 

IQth May (Saturday). — ^We started a little before 
daylight, our team looking so very mean that we ex- 
pressed doubts as to their lasting — to Mr. ITelson's 
great indignation. 

We breakfasted at another little farm-house on 
some unusually tough bacon, and coffee made of 
sweet potatoes. The natives, under all their misery, 
were red-hot in favor of fighting for their independ- 
ence to the last, and I constantly hear the words, 
" This is the most unjust war ever waged upon a 
people by mortal man." 

At 11 A. M. we met a great crowd of negroes, who 



geieeson's eatd. 103 

had been run into tlie swamps to be out of tbe way 
of the Yankees, and tbej were now returning to 
Louisiana. 

At 2 p. M. a wounded soldier gave us the deplor- 
able information that tbe enemy really was on tbe 
railroad between Jackson and Brookhaven, and that 
Jackson itself was in liis bands. This news stag- 
gered us all, and ^Nelson became alarmed for the 
safety of bis wretcbed animals ; but we all deter- 
mined to go on at all hazards, and see what turned 
ap. We halted for dinner at a farm-house, in which 
ivere seven virgins, seated all of a row. They were 
aU good-looking, but shy and bashful to a degree I 
Liever before witnessed. All the young women in this 
country seem to be either uncommonly free-spoken, or 
else extremely shy. The further we went, the more 
certain became the news of the fall of Jackson. 

We passed the night in the veranda of an old 
farmer. He told us that Grierson's Yankee raid had 
captured him about three weeks ago. He thought 
the Yankees were about 1,500 strong ; they took all 
good horses, leaving their worn-out ones behind. 
They destroyed railroad, government property, and 
arms, and paroled all men, both old and young, but 
they committed no barbarities. In this manner they 
traversed all the State of Mississippi without meet- 
ing any resistance. They were fine-looking men 
from the IlTorthwestern States. 



104 BEOOKHAVEK". 

Vlth May (Sunday). — We started again at 4.30 
A. M., and met five wounded men, who liad been cap- 
tured and paroled by Banks, in Louisiana ; tliey con- 
firmed every thing about tbe fall of Jackson, wbich 
made me consider myself particularly unfortunate, 
and destined apparently to be always intercepted by 
the [N^ortliern troops, wliicli had happened to be at 
Alexandria, at Harrisonburg, and now again at 
Jackson. At 8 a. m. we reached the little town of 
Brookhaven, which was full of travellers, principally 
Confederate soldiers, anxious^fco rejoin then- regiments. 

Maxey's brigade left this place by road last night 
to join General Johnston, who is supposed to be con- 
centrating his forces at a place called Canton, not far 
from Jackson. 

I called on Captain Matthews, the officer who com- 
manded at Brookhaven, and after introducing myself 
to him, he promised to assist me, by every means in 
his power, to join General Johnston. 

I then went to a Methodist chapel ; a good many 
soldiers were there, and a great number of women. 

At noon, just as I had begun to get in very low 
spirits about the prospects of getting on, a locomotive 
arrived from a station called Haslehurst, and brought 
us the astonishing report that the Yankees had sud- 
denly abandoned Jackson, after destroying all the 
government, and a good deal of private, property. 

This news caused our prospects to look brighter. 



BEOOKHAVEN TO JACKSON. 105 

l^th May (Monday). — On getting up this morn- 
ing, every thing appeared very uncertain, and a 
thousand contradictory reports and rumors were fly- 
ing about. 

At 8 o'clock I called on Captain Matthews, and 
told him my earnest desire to get on towards John- 
ston's army at all risks. He kindly introduced me 
to the conductor of a locomotive, who offered to take 
me to within a few miles of Jackson, if he was not 
cut off by the enemy, which seemed extremely j)rob- 
able. At 9 a. m. I seated myself, in company with 
about twenty soldiers, on the engine, and we started 
towards Jackson. 

On reaching Crystal Springs, half-way to Jackson, 
we found General Loring's division crossing the rail- 
road and marching east. It had been defeated, with 
the loss of most of its artillery, three days before, and 
was now cut off from General Pemberton. 

At 5 p. M. the conductor stopped the engine, and 
put us out at a spot distant nine miles from Jackson ; 
and as I could procure no shelter, food, or convey- 
ance there, I found myself in a terrible fix. 

At this juncture a French boy rode up on horse- 
back, and volunteered to carry my saddle-bags as far 
as Jackson, if I could walk and carry the remainder. 

Gladly accepting this unexpected offer, I started 

with him to walk up the railroad, as he assured me 

the Yankees really had gone ; and during the jom-ney, 

5* 



106 BEOOKHAVEN TO JACKSON. 

he gave me a description of their conduct during the 
short time they had occupied the city. 

On arriving within three miles of Jackson, I found 
the railroad destroyed by the enemy, who after pull- 
ing up the track, had made piles of the sleepers, and 
then put the rails in layers on the top of these heaps ; 
they had then set fire to the slee]3ers, which had 
caused the rails to bend when red-hot ; the wooden 
bridges had also been set on fire, and were still 
smoking. 

When within a mile and a half of Jackson, I met 
tour men, who stopped and questioned me very sus- 
piciously, but they at length allowed me to proceed, 
saying that these " were curious times." 

After another mile I reached a mild trench, which 
%vas dignified by the npme of the fortifications of 
Jackson. A small fight had taken place there four 
-lays previous, when General Johnston had evacuated 
the city. 

"When I got inside this trench I came to the spot on 
^hich a large body of the Yankees had recently been 
encamped ; they had set fire to a great quantity of 
stores and arms, which they had been unable to carry 
away with them, and which were still burning, and 
were partially destroyed. I observed also great num- 
bers of pikes and pikeheads amongst the debris. 

At the entrance to the town the French boy took 
me to the house of his relatives, and handed me my 



AERESTED AS A SPY. 107 ' 

saddlebags. These Frencli people told me tliey had ; 

been much ill-treated, notwithstanding their French i 

nationality. They showed me their broken furni- j 

ture, and they assured me that they had been robbed ; 

of every thing of any value. I then shouldered my i 

saddlebags, and walked through the smoking and | 

desolate streets towards the Bowmont House hotel. ; 

I had not proceeded far before a man with long 

gray hair and an enormous revolver rode up to me, ' 

and offered to carry my saddlebags. He then asked j 
me who I was ; and after I told him, he thought a few 
moments, and then said, " Well, sir, you must excuse 
me, but if you are a British officer, I. can't make out 

what on earth you are doing at Jackson just now." I ^ 
could not but confess that this was rather a natural 

idea, and that my presence in this burning town ) 

must have seemed rather odd, more especially as I • 
was obliged to acknowledge that I was there entirely 

of my own free will, and for my own amusement. | 

Mr. Smythe, for so this individual was named, then 
told me, that if I was really the person I represented 

myself, I should be well treated by all ; but that if I , 

could not prove myself to be an English officer, an \ 

event would happen which it was not difficult to ' 

foresee, and the idea caused a disagreeable sensation | 

about the throat. ; 

; Mr. Smythe then gave me to understand that I , 
must remain a prisoner for the present. He con- 



108 DR. RrSSELL. 

ducted me to a room in the Bowmont House liotel, 
and I found myself speedily surrounded by a group 
of eager and excited citizens, who had been sum- 
moned by Smythe to conduct my examination. 

At first they were inclined to be disagreeable. 
They examined my clothes, and argued as to whether 
they were of English manufacture. Some, who had 
been in London, asked me questions about the streets 
of the metropolis, and about my regiment. One re- 
marked that I was " mighty young for a lootenanir 
colonelP 

When I suggested that they should treat me with 
proper respect until I was proved to be a spy, they 
replied that their city had been brutally pillaged by 
the Yankees, and that there were many suspicious 
characters about. 

Every thing now looked very threatening, and it 
became evident to me that nothing would relieve the 
minds of these men so much as a hanging match. I 
looked in vain for some one to take my part, and I 
could not even get any person to examine my papers. 

At this critical juncture a new character appeared 
on the scene in the shape of a big heavy man who 
said to me, " My name is Dr. Eussell ; I'm an Irish- 
man, and I hate the British Government and the 
English nation ; but if you are really an officer in the 
Coldstream Guards there is nothing I won't do for you ; 
you shall come to my house and I will protect you." 



DE. RUSSELL. 109 

I immediately showed Dr. Russell my passport and 
letters of introduction to General Johnston and other 
Confederate officers; he pronounced them genuine, 
promised to stand by me, and wanted to take me 
away with him at once. 

But observing that the countenances of Smythe 
and his colleagues did not by any means express sat- 
isfaction at this arrangement, I announced my de- 
termination to stay where I was until I was released 
by the military authorities, with whom I demanded 
an immediate audience. 

A very handsome cavalry officer called Captain 
Yerger, shortly afterwards arrived, who released me 
at once — asked me to his mother's house, and prom- 
ised that I should join a brigade which was to 
matTch for General Johnston's camp on the following 
morning. 

All the citizens seemed to be satisfied by the result 
of my interview with Captain Yerger, and most of 
them insisted on shaking hands and " liquoring up," 
in horrible whiskey. Smythe, however, was an ex- 
ception to this rule. He evidently thought he had 
effiscted a grand capture, and was not at all satisfied 
at the tm*n of affairs. I believe to his dying day he 
will think I am a spy ; but it was explained to me that 
his house had been burnt down by the Yankees two 
days before, which had made him unusually venomous. 

They told me that Dr. Russell had saved his prop- 



110 PILLAGE OF JACKSON. 

ertj from pillage in the following manner : — He had 
seated himself in his veranda, with a loaded double- 
barrelled gnn on his knees, and when the pillagers 
approached, he addressed them in the following man- 
ner : " JSTo man can die more than once, and I shall 
never be more ready to die than I am now : there is 
nothing to prevent your going into this house, ex- 
cept that I shall kill the first two of you who move 
with this gun. 'Now then, gentlemen, walk in." 
This speech is said to have saved Dr. Russell from 
further annoyance, and his property from the ruin 
which overtook his neighbors. 

Jackson, the capital of the State of Mississippi, is a 
place of great importance. Four railroads meet here, 
and have been destroyed in each direction for a dis- 
tance of from three to 'Q.Ye miles. All the numerous 
factories have been burnt down by the enemy, who 
were of course justified in doing so ; but during the 
short space of thirty-six hours, in which General Grant 
occupied the city, his troops had wantonly pillaged 
aearly all the private houses. They had gutted all 
the stores, and destroyed what they could not carry 
away. All this must have been done under the very 
eyes of General Grant, whose name was in the book 
of the Bowmont House hotel. 

I saw the ruins of the Homan Catholic chm^ch, the 
priest's house, and the principal hotel, which were 
still smoking, together with many other buildings 



SITUATION OF AFFAIRS m MISSISSIPPI. Ill 

which could in no way be identified with the Con- 
federate Government. The whole town was a mis- 
erable wreck, and presented a deplorable aspect. 

I^othing conld exceed the intense hatred and fury 
with which its excited citizens speak of the outrages 
they have undergone — of their desire for a bloody 
revenge, and of their hope that the Black Flag might 
be raised.* 

I had previously heard the Jacksonians spoken of 
as not being particularly zealous in the war. Heaven 
knows General Grant had now converted them into 
good and earnest rebels. 

At 8 p. M. I called at Captain Yerger's house, and 
found him with General Gist and another officer lying 
flat on their stomachs poring over a map. Captain 
Yerger then introduced me to the ladies of his family, 
who were extremely pretty, very amiable, and highly 
patriotic. The house is charming, and, being outside 
the town, it had by good luck escaped destruction 
and pillage. After supper, the ladies played and 
sang, and I ended an eventful day in a very agreeable 
manner. General Gist promised that I should ac- 
company his brigade to-morrow on its march towards 
General Johnston, and Mrs. Yerger insisted that I 
should pass the night at her house. 

* Since this date, the unfortunate city of Jackson Las been 
again subjected to pillage by tlie Federals after the capture of 
Vicksburg. 



112 JACKSON. 

In this part of tlie country tlie prospects of the 
Confederacy appeared to be very gloomy. General 
Joseph Johnston, who commands the whole Western 
Department, only arrived from Tennessee last Wed- 
nesday, and on the following day he found himself 
obliged to abandon Jackson to an overwhelming 
l^orthern army, after making a short fight to enable 
his baggage to escape. 

General Pemberton, who had hitherto held the 
chief command, is abused by all. He was beaten on 
Saturday at Baker's Creek, where he lost the greater 
part of his artillery. He had retired into Yicksburg, 
and was now completely shut up there by the victo- 
rious Grant. 

General Maxey's brigade, about 5,000 strong, was 
near Brookhaven, and was marching east when I was 
there. General Loring's force, cut off from Pember- 
ton, was near Crystal Springs. General Johnston, 
with about 6,000 men, was supposed to be near Can- 
ton. General Gist's troops, about 5,500 strong, were 
close by, having arrived from South Carolina and 
Georgia, just too late to defend Jackson. 

The enemy, under General Grant, in vastly supe- 
rior force, was pressing Yicksburg very hard, and had 
now completely invested that fortress. 

The great object of the Confederates must, of course, 
be to unite their scattered forces under so able a gen- 
eral as Johnston, and then relieve Yicksburg. 



GENEEAL GISt's TEOOPS. 113 

19th Mci/y (Tuesday).— The landlord of the Bow- 
mont House gave a breakfast at 7 a. m. to General 
Gist and his Staff,^to which I also*»was invited. 

Shortly afterwards I was given a seat in a curious 
little vehicle belonging to Lieutenant Martino, a 
Spaniard, in the Confederate army. This vehicle 
caused considerable merriment amongst the soldiers, 
who called it a chicken-wagon. 

We left Jackson with the leading troops about 8 
A. M., amidst a great waving of handkerchiefs and 
showers of flowers, thrown by the few remaining 
ladies who were still left in that dilapidated place. 

The corps under General Gist consisted of three 
weak brigades, the leading one composed of Georgians 
and South Carolinians ; the next were Texans, under 
General Ector ; and the last were Arkansians, under 
General M'Kair. General Gist had twelve good- 
looking Napoleon guns with him (twelve-pounders). 
The horses were fine animals, and were in wonderful 
good condition, considering that they had been ten 
days on the railroad coming from South Carolina. 

The troops were roughly but efficiently clothed ; 
their boots were in good order, and all were armed 
with Enfield rifles. 

The weather was very hot, and we were halted to 
bivouac for the night, at a spot about seventeen miles 
from Jackson, on the road towards Yicksburg. 

The straggling of the Georgians was on the grand- 



114 MAECH WITH GENEEAL GIST. 

est scale conceivable ; the men fell out bj dozens, and 
seemed to suit their own convenience in tliat respect, 
without interfereiice on the part df the officers. But 
I was told that these regiments had never done any 
marching before, having hitherto been quartered in 
forts and transported by railroad. 

The country is much covered with woods, and is 
sandy, with very little water. 

I did not consider that the troops were marched 
judiciously ; they were halted too long at a time, and 
not often enough. The baggage was carried on 
country carts pressed into the service. 

We bivouacked in the woods near a very pretty 
house, belonging to a planter called Colonel Robinson. 
These immense woods make admirable bivouacs. 

General State Rights Gist is a South Carolinian, 
only thirty-two years of age, and although not edu- 
cated as a soldier, he seems easily to have adapted 
himself to the military profession. He looks a deter- 
mined man, and he takes responsibility very coolly. 
In the early part of the day he was very doubtful as 
to the exact whereabouts of General Johnston ; but 
about noon a courier arrived, from whom he received 
important and satisfactory information, otherwise 
General Gist had made up his mind for some " nasty 
work" before the junction could be effected. He told 
me that the present expedition was rather inconve- 
nient to him, as he had only been married three days 



MAECH WITH GENEEAL GIST. 115 

before lie left Charleston. He lent me a magnificent 
rug, and I slept very comfortably in tbe open air for 
the first time since I was in Texas. 

20^A May (Wednesday). — ^At 3 a. m. we were 
awoke by a great bombardment going on at Yicks- 
bm*g, wbicb lasted about three hours.* 

The assembly was beaten at T a. m. by an old nig- 
ger, performing on a cracked drum, and its sound 
was haijed by the soldiers with loud yells. 

General Gist, his Stafi*, and I, breakfasted with Mr. 
Eobinson, whose house is charming, and beautifully 
famished, and h^ not been visited by the Yankees. 

We had a crazy old planter, named , with us, 

who insisted upon accompanying the column, mount- 
ed on a miserable animal which had been left him by 
the enemy as not being worth carrying away. The 
small remains of this poor old man's sense had been 
shattered by the Yankees a few days ago ; they clean- 
ed him completely out, taking his horses, mules, cows, 
and pigs, and stealing his clothes and any thing they 
wanted, destroying what they could not carry away. 
But what " riled" him most was that he had been 
visited by a Federal oflicer, disguised in the Confed- 
erate uniform. Poor old , fall of rebel zeal, had, 

on being invited to do so, mounted en croujpe behind 

* I afterwards learnt that this bombardment preceded one of 
the unsuccessful assaults. 



116 MAUCH WITH GENERAL GIST. 

this officer, and unbosomed himself to him ; his fmy 
and rage may be imagined at finding himself shortly 
afterwards in the very midst of the Federal camp ; 
bnt the Yankee General M'Pherson ordered him to 
be released ; and it appears that the reason of his be- 
ing kidnapped, was to extract from him a large quan- 
tity of gold, which he was supposed to have hidden 
somewhere. 

This Mr. (or Major-) took a great fancy to me, 

and insisted on picking some of the silk of Indian 
corn, which he requested I would present to Queen 
Yictoria to show her how far advanced the crops were 
in Mississippi. It was almost painful to hear the 
manner in which this poor old man gloated over the 
bodies of the dead Yankees at Jackson, and of his 
intense desire to see more of them put to death. 

The column reached the village or town of Living- 
ston at 11 A. M., where I was introduced to a militia 
general and his pretty daughter ; the latter had been 
married two days before to a wounded Confederate 
officer, but the happy couple were just on the point 
of starting for the Yazoo river, as they were afraid of 
being disturbed in their felicity by the Yankees. ' 

I now heard every one speaking of the fall of Yicks- 
burg as very possible, and its jeopardy was laid at the 
door of General Pemberton, for whom no language 

* Nearly every man in this part of tlie country has a military 
title. 



GENEEAL JOSEPH JOHNSTOIT. 117 

could be too strong. He was freely called a coward 
and a traitor. He has the misfortune to be a l^orth- 
emer by birth, which was against him in the opinion 
of all here. 

General Gist and I cantered on in front of the 
column, and reached General Johnston's bivouac at 
6 p. M. 

General Johnston received me with much kindness, 
when I presented my letters of introduction, and 
stated my object in visiting the Confederate armies. 

In appearance. General Joseph E. Johnston (com- 
monly called Joe Johnston) is rather below the middle 
height, spare, soldierlike, and well set up ; his features 
are good, and he has lately taken to wear a grayish 
beard. He is a Yirginian by birth, and appears to be 
about fifty-seven years old. He talks in a calm, de- 
liberate, and confident manner; to me he was ex- 
tremely affable, but he certainly possesses the power 
of keeping people at a distance when he chooses, and 
his officers evidently stand in great awe of him. He 
lives very plainly, and at present his only cooking- 
utensils consisted of an old coffee-pot and frying- 
pan — ^both very inferior articles. There was only 
one fork (one prong deficient) between himself and 
Staff, and this was handed to me ceremoniously as 
the " guest." 

He has undoubtedly acquired the entire confidence 
of all the officers and soldiers under him. Many of 



118 AT GEKEEAL JOHNSTON S CAMP. 

the officers told me tliey did not consider him inferior 
as a general to Lee or any one else. 

He told me that Yicksbnrg was certainly in a crit- 
ical situation, and was now closely invested by Grant. 
He said that he (Johnston) had 11,000 men with him 
(which includes Gist's), hardly any cavalry, and only 
sixteen pieces of cannon ; but if he could get ade- 
quate reinforcements, he stated his intention •of en- 
deavoring to relieve Yicksburg. 

I also made the acquaintance of the Georgian Gen- 
eral "Walker, a fierce and very warlike fire-eater, who 
was fmious at having been obliged to evacuate Jack- 
son after having only destroyed four hundred Yan- 
kees. He told me, "I know I couldn't hold the 
place, but I did want to kill a few more of the 
rascals." 

At 9 p. M I returned with General Gist to his camp, 
as my baggage was there. On the road we were met 
by several natives, who complained that soldiers were 
quartering themselves upon them and eating every 
thing. 

The bivouacs are extremely pretty at night, the 
dense woods being lit up by innumerable camp-fires. 

^Ist May (Thursday). — I rejoined General John- 
ston at 9 A. M., and was received into his mess. Ma- 
jor Eustis and Lieutenant Washington, officers of his 
Staff, are thorough gentlemen, and did all in their 



AT GE2TERAL JOHNSTON's CAMP. 119 

* 

power to make me comfortable. The first is a Lou- 
isianian of wealtli (formerly) ; his negro always speaks 
French. He is brother to the secretary of Mr. Sli- 
dell in Paris, and has learnt to become an excellent 
Staff officer. 

I was presented to Captain Henderson, who com- 
manded a corps of about fifty " scouts." These are 
employed on the hazardous duty of hanging about 
the enemy's camps, collecting information, and com- 
municating with Pemberton in Yicksburg. They 
are .a fine-looking lot of men, wild, and very pictur- 
esque in appearance. 

At 12 noon a Yankee military surgeon came to 
camp. He had been left behind by Grant to look 
after the Yankees wounded at Jackson, and he was 
now anxious to rejoin his general by flag of truce, but 
General Johnston very prudently, refused to allow 
this, and desired that he should be sent to the North 
via Richmond. By a very sensible arrangement, 
both sides have agreed to treat doctors as non-com- 
batants, and not to make prisoners of war of them. 

The chief surgeon in Johnston's army is a very 
clever and amusing Kentuckian, named Dr. Yandell. 
He told me he had been educated in England, and 
might have had a large practice there. 

My friend " Major" very kindly took me to 

dine with a neighboring planter, named Harrold, at 
j whose house I met General Gregg, a Texan, who, 



120 AT GENEEAL JOHNSTON S CAMP. 

with Ms brigade, fought the Yankees at Eaymond a 
few days ago. 

After dinner, I asked Mr. Harrold to take me over 
the quarters of his slaves, which he did immediately. 
Tho huts were comfortable and very clean ; the ne- 
groes seemed fond of their master, but he told me 
they were suffering dreadfully from the effects of the 
war — ^he had so much difficulty in providing them 
with clothes and shoes. I saw an old woman in one 
of the huts, who had been suffering from an incurable 
disease for thirteen years, and was utterly useless. 
She was evidently well cared for, and was treated 
with affection and care. At all events, she must 
have benefited largely by the " peculiar institution." 

I have often told these planters that I thought the 
word " slave" was the most repulsive part of the in- 
stitution, and I have always observed they invariably 
shirk using it themselves. They speak of their ser- 
vant, their boy, or their negroes, but never of their 
slaves. They address a negro as boy or girl, or uncle 
or aunty. 

In the evening I asked General Johnston what pros- 
pect he thought there was of early operations, and he 
told me that at present he was too weak to do any 
good, and he was unable to give me any definite idea 
as to when he might be strong enough to attack 
Grant. I therefore made up my mind to be off in a 
day or two, unless something turned up, as I could not 



AT GENERAL JOHNSTON 's CAMP. 121 

■4 

afford to wait for events, I have still so mucli to see. 
General Johnston is a very well-read man, and 
agreeable to converse witli. He told me that he con- 
sidered Marlborongh a greater general than Welling- 
ton. All Americans have an intense adrnkation for 
^Napoleon ; they seldom scruple to express their re- 
gret that he was beaten at "Waterloo. 

Remarking upon the extreme prevalence of military 
titles. General Johnston said, " Yon must be aston- 
ished to find how fond all Americans are of titles, 
though they are republicans ; and as they can't get 
any other sort, they all take military ones." 

Whilst seated round the camp fire in the evening, 
one of the officers remarked to me, " I can assure 
you, colonel, that nine men out of ten in the South 
would sooner become subjects of Queen Victoria than 
return to the Union." " I^ine men out ten !" said 
General Johnston — " ninety-nine out of a hundred ; 
I consider that few people in the world can be more 
fortunate in their government than the British colo- 
nies of J^orth America." But the effect of these com- 
pliments was rather spoilt when some one else said 
they would prefer to serve under the Emperor of the 
French or the Emperor of Japan to returning to the 
dominion of Uncle Abe ; and it was still more dam- 
aged when another officer alluded in an undertone 
to the infernal regions as a more agreeable alterna- 
tive than reunion with the Yankees. 

6 



122 AT GENEEAL JOHNSTON S CAMP. 

226? 3fay (Friday). — The bombardment at Yicks- 
bm*g was very heavy and continuous this morning. 

I had a long conversation with General Johnston, 
who told me that the principal evils which a Confed- 
erate general had to contend against consisted in the 
difficulty of making combinations, owing to uncer- 
tainty about the time which the troops would take 
to march a certain distance, on account of their strag- 
gling propensities. 

But from what I have seen and heard as yet, it 
appears to me that the Confederates possess certain 
great qualities as soldiers, such as individual bravery 
and natural aptitude in the use of firearms, strong, 
determined patriotism, and boundless confidence in 
their favorite generals, and in themselves. They are 
sober of necessity, as there is literally no liquor to be 
got. They have sufficient good sense to know that a 
certain amount of discipline is absolutely necessary ; 
and I believe that instances of insubordination are 
extremely rare. They possess the great advantage of 
being led by men of talent and education as soldiers 
who thoroughly understand the people they have to 
lead, as well as those they have to beat. These gen- 
erals, such as Lee, Johnston, Beauregard, or Long- 
street, they would follow anywhere, and obey im- 
plicitly. But, on the other hand, many of their offi- 
cers, looking forward to future political advancement, 
owing to their present military rank, will not punish 



AT GEKEEAL JOHNSTOIt's CAMP. 123 

tlieir men, or are afraid of making tliemselves obnox- 
ious by enforcing rigid discipline. The men are con- 
stantly in the habit of throwing away their knap- 
sacks and blankets on a long march, if not carried 
for them, and though actuated by the strongest and 
purest patriotism, can often not be got to consider 
their obligations as soldiers. In the early part of the 
war they were often, when victorious, nearly as dis- 
organized as the beaten, and many would coolly walk 
off home, under the impression that they had per- 
formed their share. But they are becoming better 
in these respects as the war goes on.* All this 
would account for the trifling benefits derived by the 
Confederates from their numerous victories. 

General Johnston told me that Grant had dis- 
played more vigor than he had expected, by crossing 
the river below Yicksburg, seizing Jackson by vastly 
superior force, and, after cutting off communications, 
investing the fortress thoroughly, so as to take it if 
possible before a sufficient force could be got to re- 
lieve it. His army is estimated at 75,000 men, and 
General Johnston has very little opinion of the de- 

* After having lived witli the veterans of Bragg and Lee, I was 
ahle to form a still higher estimate of Confederate soldiers. Their 
obedience and forbearance in success, their discipline under disas- 
ter, their patience under suffering, imder hardships, or when 
wounded, and their boundless devotion to their country under all 
circumstances, are beyond all praise. 



124: AT GENEEAL JOHNSTON's HEADQUAHTEES. 

fences of Yicksburg on the land side. He said tlie 
garrison consisted of about 20,000 men. 

News lias been received that tlie Yankees were get- 
ting up the Yazoo river ; and tbis morning General 
"Walker's division left at 6 A. m. for Yazoo city. 

The General witb bis staff and myself rode into 
Canton, six miles, and lodged in the bouse of a 
planter wbo owned 700 slaves. 

Dr. Yandell is a wonderful mimic, and amused us 
mucb by taking off tbe marriage ceremony, as per- 
formed by General Polk in Tennessee — General Mor- 
gan of Kentucky notoriety being tbe bridegroom.* 

One of Henderson's scouts caused mucb bilarity 
amongst tbe General's Staff tbis afternoon. He bad 
brougbt in a Yankee prisoner, and apologized to 
General Jobnston for doing so, saying, " I found bim 
in a negro quarter, and he surrendered so qidck^ I 
couldnH kill himr Tbere can be no doubt tbat tbe 
conduct of tbe Federals in captured cities tends to 
create a strong indisposition on tbe part of tbe Con- 
federates to take prisoners, particularly amongst 
tbese wild Mississippians. 

General Jobnston told me tbis evening tbat alto- 
gether be bad been wounded ten times. He was tbe 
senior officer of tbe old army wbo joined tbe Confeder- 

* When I was introduced to General Polk in Tennessee I re- 
cognized him at once by Dr. Yandell's imitation, which was most 
wonderfully accurate. 



jACKsoiT. 125: 

ates, and lie commanded the Yirginian army until lie 
was severely woimded at the battle of " Seven Pines."* 

2Sd Mm/ (Saturday). — General Johnston, Major 
Eustis, and myself, left Canton at 6 A. m. on a loco- 
motive for Jackson. 

On the way we talked a good deal about " Stone- 
wall" Jackson. General Johnston said that although 
this extraordinary man did not possess any great 
qualifications as a strategist, and was perhaps unfit 
for the independent command of a large army ; yet 
he was gifted with wonderful courage and determi- 
nation, and a perfect faith in Providence that he was 
destined to destroy his enemy. He was much in- 
debted to General Ewell in the Yalley campaigns. 
Stonewall Jackson was also most fortunate in com- 
manding the flower of the Yirginian troops, and in 
being opposed to the most incapable Federal com- 
manders, such as Fremont and Banks. 

Before we had proceeded twelve miles we were 
forced to stop and collect wood from the roadside to 
feed our engine, and the General worked with so 
much energy as to cause his " Seven Pines" wound 
to give him pain. 

We were put out at a spot where the raiboad was 
destroyed, at about four miles from Jackson. A car- 

* Called " Fair Oaks" by the Yankees. 



126 JACKSON. 

riage ought to have been in waiting for ns, but by 
some mistake it bad not arrived, so we bad to foot it. 
I was obliged to cany my beavy saddlebags. Major 
Eustis very kindly took my knapsack, and tbe Gen- 
eral 'Carried tbe cloaks. In tbis order we reached 
Jackson, mnch exliansted, at 9.30 A. m. 

General Loring came and reported himself soon 
after. He is a stout man with one ann. His divi- 
sion had arrived at Jackson from Crystal Springs 
about 6,000 strong ; Evans's brigade, about 3,000, 
had also arrived from Charleston ; and Maxey's bri- 
gade was in the act of marching into Jackson. I cal- 
culate, therefore, that General Johnston must now have 
nearly 25,000 men between Jackson and the Yazoo. 

I took an affectionate farewell of liim and his offi- 
cers, and he returned to Canton at 3 p. m. I shall be 
much surprised if he is not heard of before long. 
That portion of his troops which I saw, though they 
had been beaten and forced to retreat, were in excel- 
lent spirits, full of confidence, and clamoring to be 
led against only double their numbers. 

I renewed my acquaintance with Dr. Kussell, for 
whose timely protection I shall always feel myself 
much indebted. I also sent my love tp Smythe by 
several different people. 

At 3.30 p. M. I left Jackson in a Government am- 
bulance, in company with Captain Brown of General 
Johnston's Staff, who was extremely useful to me. I 



JACKSOI^ TO MOBILE. 127 

liad taken tlie precaution of furnishing myself witli a 
pass from Colonel Ewell, tlie adjutant-general, wliicli 
I afterwards discovered was absolutely necessary, as 
I was asked for it continually, and on tlie railroad 
every person's passport was rigidly examined. 

We drove to tlie nearest point at wliicli tlie railroad 
was in working order, a distance of nearly five miles.^ 

"We tlien got into tlie cars at 6 p. m. for Meridian. 
This piece of railroad was in a most dangerous state, 
and enjoys the reputation of being the very worst of 
all the bad railroads in the South. It was completely 
worn out, and could not be repaired. Accidents are 
of almost daily occurrence, and a nasty one had hap- 
pened the day before. 

After we had proceeded ^ve miles, our engine ran 
off the track, which caused a stoppage of three hours. 
All male passengers had to get out to push along the 
cars. 

24:t/i May (Sunday). — "We reached Meridian at 7.30 
A. M., with soimd limbs, and only five hours late. 

"We left for Mobile at 9 a. m., and arrived there at 
7. 1 5 p. M. This part of the line was in very good order. 

"We were delayed a short time, owing to a " diffi- 
culty^^ which had occurred in the np-train. The dif 
ficulty was this. The engineer had shot a passenger, 
and then unhitched his engine, cut the telegraph, and 
bolted up the line, leaving his train planted on a sin- 



128 A "difficulty." 

gle track. He had allowed our train to pass by 
slmnting liimself, until we liad done so without any 
suspicion. The news of this occurrence caused really 
hardly any excitement amongst my fellow-travellers ; 
but I heard one man remark, that " it was mighty 
mean to leave a train to be run into like that." We 
avoided this catastrophe by siagular good fortune.* 

* I cut this out of a Mobile paper two days after : — 
" Attempt to Commit Murder, — We learn that while the up- 
train oil the Mobile and Ohio Railroad was near Beaver Meadow, 
one of the employees, named Thomas Fitzgerald, went into one of 
the passenger cars and shot Lieutenant H. A. Knowles with a pis- 
tol, the ball entering his left shoulder, going out at the back of his 
neck, making a very dangerous wound. Fitzgerald then uncoup- 
led the locomotive from the train and started off. When a few 
miles above Beaver Meadows he stopped and cut the telegraph 
wires, and then proceeded up the road. When near Lauderdale 
station he came in collision with the down-train, smashing the en- 
gine, and doing considerable damage to several of the cars.f It is 
thought he there took to the woods ; at any rate he has made good 
his escape so far, as nothing of him has yet been heard. The 
shooting, as we are informed, was that of revenge. It will be re- 
membered that a few months ago Knowles and a brother of 
Thomas Fitzgerald, named Jack, had a rencounter at Enterprise 
about a lady, and during which Knowles killed Jack Fitzgerald ; 
afterwards it is stated that Thomas threatened to revenge the 
death of his brother ; so on Sunday morning Knowles was on the 
train, as stated, going up to Enterprise to stand his trial. Thomas 
learning that he was on the train, hunted him up and shot him. 
Knowles, we learn, is now lying in a very critical condition." 

t This is a mistake. 



MOLILE* 129 

The universal practice of carrying arms in the South 
is undoubtedly the cause of occasional loss of life, and 
is much to be regretted ; but, on the other hand, this 
custom renders altercations and quarrels of very rare 
occurrence, for people are naturally careful what they 
say when a bullet may be the probable reply. 

By the intercession of Captain Brown, I was al- 
lowed to travel in the ladies' car. It was cleaner and 
more convenient, barring the squalling of the numer- 
ous children, who were terrified into good behavior 
by threats from their negro nurses of being given to 
the Yankees. 

I put up at the principal hotel at Mobile — viz., the 
" Battlehouse." The living appeared to be very good 
by comparison, and cost $8 a-day. In consequence 
of the fabulous value of boots, they must not be left 
outside the door of one's room, from danger of annex- 
ation by a needy and unscrupulous warrior. 

26th May (Monday). — I was disappointed in the 
aspect of Mobile. It is a regular rectangular Ameri- 
can city, built on a sandy flat, and covering a deal of 
ground for its population, which is about 25,000. 

I called on General Maury, for whom I brought a 

letter of introduction from General Johnston. He is 

a very gentlemanlike and intelligent but diminutive 

Yirginian, and had only just assumed the command 

at Mobile. 

6* 



130 MOBILE. 

He was very civil, and took me in a steamer to see 
the sea defences. "We were accompanied by General 
Ledbetter the engineer, and we were six hours visit- 
ing the forts. 

Mobile is situated at the head of a bay thirty miles 
long. The blockading squadron, eight to ten in num- 
ber, is stationed outside the bay, the entrance to which 
is defended by Forts Morgan and Gaines ; but as the 
channel between these two forts is a mile wide, they 
might probably be passed. 

"Within two miles of the city, however, the bay 
becomes very shallow, and the ship channel is both 
dangerous and tortuous. It is, moreover, obstructed 
by double rows of pine piles, and all sorts of ingenious 
torpedoes, besides being commanded by carefully 
constructed forts, armed with heavy guns, and built 
either on islands or on piles. 

Their names are Fort Pinto, Fort Spanish Kiver, 
Apalache, and Blakeley.* 

The garrisons of these forts complained of their 
being unhealthy, and I did not doubt the assertion. 
Before landing, we boarded two iron-clad floating- 
batteries. The Confederate fleet at Mobile is consid- 
erable, and reflects great credit upon the energy of the 
Mobilians, as it has been constructed since the com- 
mencement of the war. Dm'ing the trip, I overheard 

* A description of either its sea or land defences is necessarily 
omitted. 



MOBILE. 131 

General Maury soliloquizing over a Yankee flag, and 
saying, " Well, I never should have believed that I 
could have lived to see the day in which I should de- 
test that old flag." He is cousin to Lieutenant Mau- 
ry, who has distinguished himself so much by his 
writings, on physical geography especially. The 
family seems to be a very mihtary one. His brother 
is captain of the Confederate steamer Georgia. 

After landing, I partook of a hasty dinner with 
General Maury and Major Cummins. I was then 
mounted on the General's horse, and was sent to gal- 
lop round the land defences with Brigadier-general 
Slaughter and his Staff. By great good fortune this 
was the evening of General Slaughter's weekly in- 
spection, and all the redoubts were manned by their 
respective garrisons, consisting half of soldiers and 
half of armed citizens who had been exempted from 
the conscription either by their age or nationality, or 
had purchased substitutes. One of the forts was de- 
fended by a burly British guard, commanded by a 
venerable Captain Wheeler.* 

After visiting the fortifications, I had supper at 
General Slaughter's house, and met there some of the 
refugees from "New Orleans — these are now being hud- 
dled neck and crop out of that city for refusing to take 
the oath of allegiance to the United States. Great 

* Its members were British subjects exempted from the conscrip- 
tion, but they had volunteered to fight in defence of the city. 



132 MOBILE. 

numbers of women and children are arriving at Mo- 
bile every day ; tbej are in a destitute condition, and 
tbey add to the universal feeling of exasperation. 
The propriety of raising the black flag, and giving no 
quarter, was again freely discussed at General Slaugh- 
ter's, and was evidently the popular idea. I heard 
many anecdotes of the late " Stonewall Jackson," who 
was General Slaughter's comrade in the artillery of 
the old army. It appears that previous to the war he 
was almost a monomaniac about his health. When 
he left the XJ. S. service he was under the impression 
that one of his legs was getting shorter than the other; 
and afterwards his idea was that he only perspired on 
one side, and that it was necessary to keep the arm 
and leg of the other side in constant motion in order 
to preserve the circulation ; but it seems that imme- 
diately) the war broke out he never made any further 
allusion to his health. General Slaughter declared 
that on the night after the terrific repulse of Burn- 
side's army at Fredericksburg, Stonewall Jackson had 
made the following suggestion : — " I am of opinion 
that we ought to attack the enemy at once ; and in 
order to avoid the confusion and mistakes so common 
in a night attack, I recommend that we should all 
strip ourselves perfectly naked.""^ Blockade-running 
goes on very regularly at Mobile ; the steamers nearly 

* I always forgot to ask General Lee whether this story was a 
true one. 



JOURNEY THROUGH ALABAMA. 133 

always succeed, but the schooners are generally cap- 
tu*d. To-morrow I sh*all start for the Tennessean 
army, commanded by General Braxton Bragg. 

^Uh J[f^y (Tuesday).— When I took Colonel Swell's 
pass to the provost-marshal's office this morning to be 
countersigned, that official hesitated about stamping 
it, but luckily a man in his office came to my rescue, 
and volunteered to say that, although he didn't know 
me himself, he had heard me spoken of by others as 
" a very respectable gentleman." I was only just in 
time to catch the twelve o'clock steamer for the 
Montgomery railroad. I overheard two negroes on 
board discussing affairs in general ; they were deplor- 
ing the war, and expressing their hatred of the Yan- 
kees for bringing " sufferment on us as well as our 
masters." Both of them had evidently a great aver- 
sion to being " run off," as they called it. One of 
them wore his master's sword, of which he was very 
proud, and he strutted about in a most amusing and 
consequential manner. 

I got into the railroad cars at 2.30 p. m. ; the pace 
i^^as not at all bad, had we not stopped so often and 
for such a long time for wood and water. I sat 
opposite to a wounded soldier, who told me he was an 
Englishman from Chelsea. He said he was returning 
to his regiment, although his wound in the neck often 
gave hun great pain. The spirit with which wounded 



134 MOBILE TO CHATTANOOGA. 

men retm^n to the front, even althongli their wounds 
are imperfectly healed, is worthy of all praise, and 
shows the indomitable determination of the Southern 
people. In the same car there were several quite 
young boys of fifteen or sixteen who were badly 
wounded, and one or two were minus arms and legs, 
of which deficiencies they were evidently very vain. 
The country through which we passed was a dense 
pine forest, sandy soil, and quite desolate, very unin- 
viting to an invading army. "We travelled all night. 

^7thMay (Wednesday). — Arrived at Montgomery, 
the capital of Alabama, at daylight, and left it by 
another railroad at 6.30 A. m. 

All State capitals appear to resemble one another, 
and look like bits cut off from great cities. One or 
two streets have a good deal of pretension about 
them ; and the inevitable " Capitol," with its dome, 
forms the principal feature. A sentry stands at the 
door of each railway car, who examines the papers of 
every passenger with great strictness, and even after 
that inspection the same ceremony is performed by 
an ofiicer of the provost-marshal's department, who 
accompanies every train.* The officers and soldiers 
on this duty are very civil and com'teous, and after 

* This rigid inspection is necessary to arrest spies, and prevent 
straggling and absence without leave. 



MOBILE TO CHATTAKOOGA. 135 

getting over their astonishment at finding that I am 
a British officer, they do all they can to make me 
comfortable. They ask all sorts of curious questions 
about the British army, and often express a strong 
wish to see one of our regiments fight. They can 
hardly believe that the Coldstream is really dressed 
in scarlet. To-day they entered gravely into discus- 
sion amongst themselves, as to whether British troops 
would have taken the position at Fredericksburg. 
The arguments on both sides were very amusing, and 
' opinion* was pretty evenly divided. We met three 
I trains crammed full of soldiers for Johnston's army. 
! They belonged to Breckenridge's division of Bragg's 
I army, and all seemed in the highest spirits, cheering 
I and yelling like demons. In the cars to-day I fell in 
1 with the Federal doctor who was refused leave to pass 
I through General Johnston's lines ;' he was now en 
route for Richmond. He was in full Yankee uniform, 
but was treated with civility by all the Confederate 
soldiers. I had a long talk with him ; he seemed a 
sensible man, and did not attempt to deny the uni- 
versal enthusiasm and determination of the South- 
erners. He told me that General Grant had been 
very nearly killed at the taking of Jackson. He 
thought the war would probably terminate by a 
blow-up in the IS'orth.* 



* Notwithstanding the exc.speration with which every South- 



136 MOBILE TO CHATTANOOGA. 

I had to change cars at "West Point and at Atlanta. 
At the latter place I was crammed into a desperately 
crowded train for Chattanooga. This country, Geor- 
gia, is much more inhabited and cultivated than Ala- 
bama. I travelled again all night. 

28^A May (Thursday). — I arrived at Chattanooga 
(Tennessee) at 4.30 a. m., and fell in with Captain 
Brown again ; his negro recognized me, and imme- 
diately rushed up to shake hands. 

After breakfasting at Chattanooga, I started again 
at 7.30, by train, for Shelby ville. General Bragg's 
headquarters. This train was crammed to repletion 
with soldiers rejoining their regiments, so I was con- 
strained to sit in the aisle on the floor of one of the 
cars. I thought myself lucky even then, for so great 
was the number of military, that all " citizens^'' were 
ordered out to make way for the soldiers ; but my 
gray shooting-jacket and youthful appearance saved 
me from the imputation of being a " citizen." Two 
hours later, the passport officer, seeing who I was, 
procured me a similar situation in the ladies' car, 
where I was a little better off. After leaving Chatta- 
nooga the railroad winds alongside of the Tennessee 

erner speaks of a Yankee, and all tlie talk about black flag and no 
quarter, yet I never saw a Federal prisoner ill treated or insulted 
in any way, although I have travelled hundreds of miles in their 
company. 



WAETRACE, 137 

river, the banks of wMch are high, and beautifully 
covered with trees — the river itself is wide, and very 
pretty ; but fi-om my position in the tobacco-juice I 
was unable to do justice to the scenery. I saw stock- 
ades at intervals all along the railroad, which were 
constructed by the Federals, who occupied all this 
country last year. 

On arriving at Wartrace at 4 p. m., I determined 
to remain there, and ask for hospitality from General 
Hardee, as I saw no prospect of reaching Shelbyville 
in decent time. Leaving my baggage with the pro- 
vost-marshal at "Wartrace, I walked on to General 
Hardee's headquarters, which were distant about two 
miles from the railroad. They were situated in a 
beautiful country, green, undulating, full of magnif- 
icent trees, principally beeches, and the scenery was 
by far the finest I had seen in America as yet. 

When I arrived, I found that General Hardee was 
in company with General Polk and Bishop Elliott of 
Georgia, and also with Mr. Yallandigham. The lat- 
ter (called the Apostle of Liberty) is a good-looking 
man, apparently not much over forty, and had been 
turned out of the North three days before. Eose- 
j crans had wished to hand him over to Bragg by flag 
of truce ; but as the latter declined to receive him in 
that manner, he was, as General Hardee expressed it, 
" dumjped dowrnJ'^ in the neutral ground between the 
lines, and left there. He then received hospitality 



138 GENEEAL HARDEE. 

from tlie Confederates in tlie capacity of a destitute 
stranger. They do not in any way receive liim offi- 
cially, and it does not suit tlie policy of either party 
to be identified with one another. He is now living 
at a private house in Shelbyville, and had come over 
for the day, with General Polk, on a visit to Hardee. 
He told the generals, that if Grant was severely 
beaten in Mississippi by Johnston, he did not think 
the war could be continued on its present great scale. 
When I presented my letters of introduction. Gen- 
eral Hardee received me with the unvarying kind- 
ness and hospitality which I had experienced from all 
other Confederate officers. He is a fine, soldierlike 
man, broad-shouldered and tall. He looks rather 
like a French officer, and is a Georgian by birth. 
He bears the reputation of being a thoroughly good 
soldier, and he is the author of the drill-book still in 
use by both armies. Until quite lately, he was com- 
manding officer of the military college at West Point. 
He distinguished himself at the battles of Corinth 
and Murfreesborough, and now commands the 2d 
corps d^armee of Bragg's army. He is a widower, 
and has the character of being a great admirer of the 
fair sex. During the Kentucky campaign last year, 
he was in the habit of availing himself of the privi- 
lege of his rank and years, and insisted upon kissing 
the wives and daughters' of all the Kentuckian farm- 
ers. And although he is supposed to have converted 



GENERAL POLK. 139 

many of tlie ladies to tlie Soiitliern canse, yet in many 
instances their male relatives remained either neutral 
or undecided. On one occasion General Hardee had 
conferred the " accolade" upon a very pretty Kentnck- 
ian, to their mutual satisfaction, when, to his intense 
disgust, the proprietor produced two very ugly old 
females, saying, " ]^ow, then, general, if you kiss any 
you must kiss them all round," which the discomfited 
general was forced to do, to the great amusement of 
his officers, who often allude to this contretemps. 

Another rebuff which he received, and about which 
he is often chaffed by General Polk, was when an old 
lady told him he ought really to " leave off fighting 

I at Ms ageP " Indeed, madam," replied Hardee, 
" and how old do you take me for ?" " Why, about 
the same age as myself — seventy-five." The chagrin 
of the stalwart and gallant general, at having twenty 
years added to his age, may be imagined. 

Lieutenant-general Leonidas Polk, Bishop of 
Louisiana, who commands the other corps Warmee^ 
is a good-looking, gentlemanlike man, with all the 
manners and affability of a " grand seigneur." He 
is fifty-seven years of age — tall, upright, and looks 

j much more the soldier than the clergyman. He is 
very rich ; and I am told he owns seven hundred 
negroes. He is much beloved by the soldiers on ac- 
count of his great personal courage and agreeable 
manners. I had already heard no end of anecdotes 



140 BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 

of him told me by my travelling companions, who 
always alluded to him with affection and admiration. 
In his clerical capacity I had always heard him 
spoken of with the greatest respect. When I was 
introduced to him he immediately invited me to 
come and stay at his headquarters at Shelbyville. 
He told me that he was educated at West Point, and 
was at that institution with the President, the two 
Johnstons, Lee, Magruder, &c., and that, after serv- 
ing a short time in the artillery, he had entered the 
church. • 

Bishop Elliott, of Georgia, is a nice old man ol 
venerable appearance and very courteous manners. 
He is here at the request of General Polk, for the 
purpose of confirming some officers and soldiers. He 
speaks English exactly like an English gentleman, 
and so, in fact, does General Polk, and all the well- 
bred Southerners, much more so than the ladies, 
whose American accent can always be detected. 
General Polk and Mr. Yallandigham retm-ned to 
Shelbyville in an ambulance at 6.30 p. m. 

General Hardee's headquarters were on the estate 

of Mrs. , a very hospitable lady. The two 

daughters of the General were staying with her, and 

' also a Mrs. , who is a very pretty woman. These 

ladies are more violent against the Yankees than it is 
possible for a European to conceive ; they beat their 
male relations hollow in their denunciations and hopes 



AT GENERAL HAEDEE's HEADQUARTERS. 141 

of vengeance. It was quite depressing to hear their 
inniimerable stories of Yankee brutality, and I was 
much relieved when, at a later period of the evening, 
they subsided into music. After Bishop Elliott had 
read prayers, I slept in the same room with General 
Hardee. 

' 29^A May (Friday). — I took a walk before break- 
, fast with Dr. Quintard, a zealous Episcopal chaplain, 
who began life as a surgeon, which enables him to 
I attend to the bodily as well as the spiritual wants of 
I the Tennessean regiment to which he is chaplain. 
• The enemy is about fifteen miles distant, and all the 
i tops of the intervening hills are occupied as signal 
I stations, which communicate his movements by flags 
( in the daytime, and by beacons at night. A signal 
corps has been organized for this service. The sys- 
Item is most ingenious, and answers admirably. We 

"j all breakfasted at Mrs. 's. The ladies were more 

excited even than yesterday in their diatribes against 
the Yankees. They insisted on cutting the accom- 
panying paragraph out of to-day's newspaper, which 
they declared was a very fair exposition of the average 
treatment they received from the enemy.* They re- 

* " Losses of William F. Ricks. — The Yankees did not treat 
us very badly as they returned from pursuing our men beyond 
Leighton (at least no more than we expected) ; they broke down 
our smokehouse door and took seven hams, went into the kitchen 



142 SPIRIT OF SOTJTHEEN WOMEN. 

proved Mrs. for having given assistance to tlie 

wounded Yankees at Wartrace last year ; and a sis- 
ter of Mrs. 's, wlio is a very strong-minded lady, 

gave me a most amusing description of an interview 

and helped themselves to cooking utensils, tin ware, &c. ; searclied 
the house, but took nothing. As they passed up the second time 
we were very much annoyed by them, but not seriously injured ; 
they took the only two mules we had, a cart, our milch cows, and 
more meat. It was on their return from this trip that our losses 
were so grievous. They drove their wagons up in our yard and 
loaded them with the last of our meat, all of our sugar, coffee, 
molasses, flour, meal, and potatoes. I went to a heut.-colonel 
who seemed very busy giving orders, and asked him what he ex- 
pected me to do ; they had left me no provisions at all, and I had 
a large family, and my husband was away from home. His reply 
was short and pointed — 'Starve, and be d — d, madam.' They 
then proceeded to the carriage-house, took a fine new buggy that 
we had never used, the cushions and harness rf our carriage, then 
cut the carriage up and left it. They then sent about sixty of the 
slyest, smoothest-fingered rogues I have ever seen in the Federal 
army (all the rogues I ever did see were in that army), into the 
house to search for whiskey and money, while the officers remained 
in the back-yard trying to hire the servants to tell them where we 
had money hid. Their search proving fruitless, they loaded them- 
selves with our clothing, bed-clothing, &c. ; broke my dishes ; stole 
my knives and forks ; refused the keys and broke open my trunks, 
closets, and other doors. Then came the worst of all— the burn- 
ers, or, as they call themselves, the 'Destroying Angels.' They 
burned our gin-house and press, with 125 bales of cotton, seven 
cribs containing 600 bolls of corn, our logs, stables, and six stacks 
of fodder, a wagon, and four negro cabins, our lumber-room, fine 
spinning-machine and 500 dollars' worth of thread, axes, hoes, 



AT GENERAL HAEDEe's HEADQTTAETEES. 143 

she had had at Huntsville with the astronomer 
Mitchell, in his capacity of a Yankee general. It has 
often heen remarked to me that, when this war is 
over, the independence of the conntr j will be due, in 
a great measure, to the women ; for they declare that 

scytlie-blades, and all otlier plantation implements. Then they 
came with their torches to burn our house, the last remaining 
building they had left besides the negro quarter. That was too 
much ; all my pride, and the resolutions that I had made (and un- 
til now kept up) to treat them with cool contempt, and never, let 
the worst come, humble myself to the thievish cutthroats, forsook 
me at the awful thought of my home in ruins ; I must do some- 
thing, and that quickly ; — hardened, thieving villains, as I knew 
them to be, I would make one effort for the sake of my home. 
I looked over the crowd, as they huddled together to give orders 
about the burning, for one face that showed a trace of feeling, or 
an eye that beamed with a spark of humanity, but, finding none, 
I approached the nearest group, and pointing to the children (my 
sister's), I said, ' You will not burn the house, will you ? you drove 
those little ones from one home and took possession of it, and this 
is the only sheltering place they have.' * You may thank your 
God, madam,' said one of the ruflBans, * that we have left you and 
your d — d brats with heads to be sheltered.' Just then an officer 
galloped uj) — pretended to be very much astonished and terribly 
beset about the conduct of his men — cursed a good deal, and told 
a batch of falsehoods about not having given orders to burn any 
thing but corn — made divers threats that were forgotten in utter- 
ance, and ordered liis ' Angels' to fall into line, — thereby winding 
up the troubles of the darkest day I have ever seen. 

Mrs. Ricks. 
" Losses before this last raid : six mules, five horses, one wagon 
(four-horse), fifty- two negroes." 



14A AT GENEEAL POLk's HEADQUAETERS. 

had the women been desponding they conld never 
have gone through with it ; but, on the contrary, the 
women have invariably set an example to the men of 
patience, devotion, and determination. Naturally 
proud, and with an innate contempt for the Yankees, 
the Southern women have been rendered furious and 
de.iperate by the proceedings of Butler, Milroy, 
Turchin, &c. They are all prepared to undergo any 
hardships and misfortunes rather than submit to the 
rule of such people ; and they use every argument 
which woman can employ to infuse the same spirit 
into their male relations. 

At noon I took leave for the present of General 
Hardee, and drove over in his ambulance to Shelby- 
ville, eight miles, in company with Bishop Elliott and 
Dr. Quintard. The road was abominable, and it was 
pouring with rain. On arriving at General Polk's, 
he invited me to take up my quarters with him dur- 
ing my stay with Bragg's army, which o£Per I ac- 
cepted with gratitude. After dinner General Polk 
told me that he hoped his brethren in England did 
not very much condemn his present line of conduct. 
He explained to me the reasons which had induced 
him temporarily to forsake the cassock and return to 
his old profession. He stated the extreme reluctance 
he had felt in taking this step ; and he said that so 
soon as the war was over, he should return to his 
episcopal avocations, in the same way as a man, find- 



GENEEAL BEAXTON EEAGG. 145 

ing Ills lioiise on fire, would use every means in his 
power to extingnisli tlie fames, and would then re- 
sume his ordinary pursuits. He commanded the 
Confederate forces at the battle of Perryville and 
Belmont, as well as his present corps d'^arnnee at the 
battles of Shiloh (Corinth) and Murfreesborough. 

At 6.30 p. M., I called on General Bragg, the Com- 
mander-in-chief. This officer is in appearance the 
least prepossessing of the Confederate generals. He 
is very thin ; he stoops, and has a sickly, cadaverous, 
haggard appearance, rather plain features, bushy 
black eyebrows w^hich unite in a tuft on the top of 
his nose, and a stubby iron-gray beard : but his eyes 
are bright and piercing. He has the reputation of 
being a rigid disciplinarian, and of shooting freely 
for insubordination. I understand he is rather un- 
popular on this account, and also by reason of his oc- 
casional acerbity of manner. He was extremely civil 
to me, and gave me permission to visit the outposts, 
or any part of his army. He also promised to help 
me towards joining Morgan in Kentucky, and he ex- 
pressed his regret that a boil on his hand would pre- 
vent him from accompanjdng me to the outposts. 
He told me that Kosecrans' position extended about 
forty miles, Murfreesborough (twenty-five miles dis- 
tant) being his headquarters. The Confederate cav- 
alry inclosed him in a semicircle extending over a 
hundred miles of country. He told me that West 



146 GENEEAL VAN DOEN's DEATH. 

Tennessee, occupied by the Federals, was devoted to 
the Confederate cause, whilst East Tennessee, now in 
possession of the Confederates, contained nnmbers of 
people of Unionist proclivities. This very place, 
Shelbyville, had been described to me by others as a 
" Union hole." 

After my interview with General Bragg, I took a 
ride along the Mnrfreesborongh road with Colonel 
[Richmond, A. D. C. to General Polk. Abont two 
miles from Shelbyville, we passed some lines made to 
defend the position. The trench itself was a very 
mild affair, but the higher ground could be occupied 
by artillery in such a manner as to make the road 
impassable. The thick woods were being cut down 
in front of the lines for a distance of eight hundred 
yards to give range. 

During our ride I met Major-general Cheetham, a 
stout, rather rough-looking man, but with the repu- 
tation of " a great fighter." It is said that he does 
all the necessary swearing in the 1st corjps d^armee, 
which General Polk's clerical character incapacitates 
him from performing. Colonel Pichmond gave me 
the particulars of General Yan Dorn's death, which 
occurred about forty miles from this. His loss does 
not seem to be much regretted, as it appears he was 
always ready to neglect his military duties for an as- 
signation. In the South it is not considered neces- 
sary to put yourself on an equality with a man in such 



AT GENEEAL POLk's HEADQIJAETEES. 147 

a case as Yan Dorn's by calling iiim out. His life 
belongs to tbe aggrieved liiisband, and "shooting 
down" is universally esteemed tlie correct thing, ev&fL 
if it takes place after a lapse of time, as in tlie affair 
between General Yan Dorn and Dr. Peters. 

jN'ews arrived this evening of the capture of Helena 
by the Confederates, and of the hanging of a negro 
regiment with forty Yankee officers. Every one ex- 
pressed sorrow for the blacks, bnt applauded the de- 
struction of their officers.* 

I slept in General Polk's tent, he occupying a room 
in the house adjoining. Before going to bed, General 
Polk told me an affecting story of a poor widow in 
humble circumstances, whose three sons had fallen in 
battle one after the other, until she had only one left, 
a boy of sixteen. So distressing was her case that 
General Polk went himself to comfort her. She 
looked steadily at him, and replied to his condolences 
by the sentence, " As soon as I can get a few things 
together, General, you shall have Harry too." The 
tears came into General Polk's eyes as he related this 
episode, which he ended by saying, " How can you 
subdue such a nation as tJiis /" 

ZOth May (Saturday). — It rained hard all last night, 
but General Polk's tent proved itself a good one. We 

* Tliis afterwards turned out to be untrue. 



148 COLONEL ST. LEGEE GRENFELL. 

have prayers both, morniug and evening, by Dr. Quin- 
tard, together with singing, in which General Polk 
j^ins with much zeal. Colonel Gale, who is son-in- 
law and volnnteer aid-de-camp to General Polk, has 
placed his negro Aaron and a mare at mj disposal 
during mj stay. 

General Polk explained to me, from a plan, the 
battle of Murfreesborongh. He claimed that the 
Confederates had only 30,000 troops, including Breck- 
enridge's division, which was not engaged on the first 
day. He put the Confederate loss at 10,000 men, and 
that of the Yankees at 19,000. "With regard to the 
battle of Shiloh,* he said that Beauregard's order to 
retire was most unfortunate, as the gunboats were 
doing no real harm, and if they (the Confederates) 
had held on, nothing could have saved the Federals 
from capture or destruction. The misfortune of Al- 
bert Johnston's death, together with the fact of Beau- 
regard's illness and his not being present at that par- 
ticular spot, were the causes of this battle not being 
a more complete victory. 

Ever since I landed in America, I had heard of the 
exploits of an Englishman called Colonel St. Leger 
Grenfell, who is now Inspector-general of Cavalry to 
Bragg's army. This afternoon I made his acquaint- 
ance, and I consider him one of the most extraordinary 

* Called Pittsburg Landing and Corinth. 



COLONEL ST. LEGEE GEEICFELL. 149 

characters I ever met. Altliougli lie is a meraber of a 
well-known Englisli family, lie seems to liave devoted 
his whole life to the exciting career of a soldier of 
fortune. He told me that in early life he had served 
three years in a French lancer regiment, and had risen 
from a private to be a sous-lieutenant. He after- 
wards became a sort of consular agent at Tangier, 
under old Mr. Drummond Hay. Having acquired a 
perfect knowledge of Arabic, he entered the service of 
Abd-el-Kader, and under that renowned chief he 
fought the French for four years and a half. At an- 
other time of his life he fitted out a yacht, and carried 
on a private war with the Hiff pirates. He was bri- 
gade-major in the Turkish contingent during the 
Crimean war, and had some employment in the In- 
dian mutiny. He has also been engaged in war in 
Buenos Ayres and the South American republics. 
At an early period of the present troubles he ran the 
blockade and joined the Confederates. He was ad- 
jutant-general and right-hand man to the celebrated 
John Morgan for eight months. Even in this army, 
which abounds with foolhardy and desperate charac- 
ters, he has acquired the admiration of all ranks by 
his reckless daring and gallantry in the field. Both 
Generals Polk and Bragg spoke to me of him as a 
most excellent and useful officer, besides being a man 
who never lost an opportunity of trying to throw his 
life away. He is just the sort of a man to succeed in 



150 AT GENEEAL POLK's HEADQUAETEES. 

this army, and among the soldiers his fame for bra- 
very has outweighed his iinpopnlarity as a rigid dis- 
ciplinarian. He is the terror of all absentees, strag- 
glers, and deserters, and of all commanding officers 
who are unable to produce for his inspection the num- 
ber of horses they have been drawing forage for. He 
looks about forty-five, but in reality he is fifty-six. 
He is rather tall, thin, very wiry and active, with a 
jovial English expression of countenance; but his 
eyes have a wild, roving look, which is common 
amono;st the Arabs. When he came to me he was 
dressed in an English staff blue coat, and he had a 
red cavalry forage-cap, which latter. General Polk 
told me, he always wore in action, so making him- 
self more conspicuous. He talked to me much about 
John Morgan, whose marriage he had tried to avert, 
and of which he spoke with much sorrow. He de- 
clared that Morgan was enervated by matrimony, 
and would never be the same man as he was. He 
said that in one of the celebrated telegraph tappings 
in Kentucky, Morgan, the operator, and himself, 
were seated for twelve hours on a clay-bank dming a 
violent storm, but the interest was so intense, that 
the time passed like three hours.*^ 

* This was tlie occasion wlien they telegraphed such a quan- 
tity of nonsense to the Yankee general, receiving valuable infor- 
mation in return, and such necessary stores by train as Morgan 
■^'^.s in need of. 



AT GENERAL POLK'S HEADQUARTEES. 151 

General Polk's son, a young artillery lieutenant, 
told me tliis evening tliat " Stonewall Jackson" was 
a professor at the military scliool at Lexington, in 
which he was a cadet. " Old Jack" was considered 
a persevering but rather dull master, and was often 
made a butt of by cheeky cadets, whose great ambi- 
tion it was to irritate him, but, however insolent they 
were, he never took the slightest notice of their im- 
pertinence at the time, although he always had them 
punished for it afterwards. At the outbreak of the 
war, he was called uipon by the cadets to make a 
speech, and these were his words : " Soldiers make 
short speeches : lye slow to draw the sword m civil 
strife, lyut when you draw it, throw away the seah- 
hoA^dP Young Polk says that the enthusiasm crea- 
ted by this speech of old Jack's was beyond de- 
scription. 

Z\st May (Sunday). — The Bishop of Georgia 
preached to-day to a very large congregation in the 
Presbyterian chm'ch. He is a most eloquent preach- 
er ; and he afterwards confirmed about twenty peo- 
ple, — amongst others. Colonel Gale (over forty years 
old), and young Polk. After church, I called again 
on General Bragg, who talked to me a long time 
about the battle of Murfreesborough (in which he 
commanded). He said that he retained possession of 
the ground he had won for three days and a half, and 



152 WAETSAOS. 

only retired on account of tlie exhaustion of his troops, 
and after carrying off over 6,000 prisoners, mucli can- 
non, and other trophies. He allowed that Rosecrans 
had displayed much firmness, and was " the only man 
in the YanJcee army who was not l)adly heatenP He 
showed me, on a plan, the exact position of the two 
armies, and also the field of operations of the re- 
nowned guerillas, Morgan and Forrest. 

Colonel Grenfell called again, and I arranged to 
visit the outposts with him on Tuesday. He spoke 
to me in high terms of Bragg, Polk, Hardee, and 
Cleburne ; but he described some of the others as 
" political" generals, and others as good fighters, but 
illiterate and somewhat addicted to liquor. He de- 
plored the effects of politics upon military affairs as 
very injurious in the Confederate army, though not 
so bad as it is in the !N"orthern. ' 

At 2 p. M. I travelled in the cars to Wartrace, in 
company with General Bragg and the Bishop of Geor- 
gia. We were put into a baggage-car, and the Gen- 
eral and the Bishop were the only persons provided 
with seats. Although the distance from Shelbyville 
to Wartrace is only eight miles, we were one hour 
and ten minutes in effecting the trajet, in such a 
miserable and dangerous state were the rails. On 
arriving at Wartrace we were entertained by Major- 
general Cleburne. This officer gave me his history. 
He is the son of a doctor at or near Ballincolig. At 



MAJ0R-GE2TEEAL CLEBUENE. 153 

the age of seventeen lie ran away from home, and 
enlisted in her Majesty's 41st regiment of foot, in 
which he served three years as private and corporal. 
He then bought his discharge, and emigrated to Ar- 
kjinsas, where he studied law, and, eschewing poli- 
tics, he got a good practice as a lawyer. At the out- 
break of the war he was elected captain of his com- 
pany, then colonel of his regiment, and has since, by 
his distinguished services in all the Western cam- 
paigns, been appointed to the command of a division 
(10,000 men) — the highest military rank which has 
been attained by a foreigner in the Confederate ser- 
vice. He told me that he ascribed his advancement 
mainly to the useful lessons which he had learnt in 
the ranks of the British army, and ho pointed with a 
a laugh to his general's white facings, which he said 
his 41st experience enabled him to keep cleaner than 
any other ConTederate general.* He is now thirty- 
five years of age ; but, his hair having turned gray, 
he looks older. Generals Bragg and Hardee both 
spoke to me of him in terms of the highest praise, and 
said that he had risen entirely by his own personal 
merit. 

At 5 p. M. I was present at a great open-air preach- 

* Tlie 41st regiment wears wliite facing's ; so do tlie Generals 
in tlie Confederate army. M. de Polignac has recently been ap- 
pointed a brigadier : lie and Cleburne are tlie only two generals 
amongst tbe Confederates wlio are foreigners. 



154 BISHOP ELLIOTT. 

ing at General Wood's camp. Bishop Elliott preaclied 
most admirably to a congregation composed of nearly 
3,000 soldiers, wlio listened to liim with the most 
profound attention. Generals Bragg, Polk, Hardee, 
Withers, Cleburne, and endless brigadiers, were^ also 
present. It is impossible to exaggerate the respect 
paid by all ranks of this army to Bishop Elliott ; and 
although most of the officers are Episcopalians, the 
majority of the soldiers are Methodists, Baptists, &c. 
Bishop Elliott afterwards explained to me that the 
reason most of the people had become dissenters was 
because there had been no bishops in America during 
the " British dominion ;" and all the clergy having 
been appointed from England, had almost without 
exception stuck by the King m the Eevolution, and 
had had their livings forfeited. 

I dined and slept at General Hardee's, but spent 

the evening at Mrs. 's, where I Tieard renewed 

philippics directed by the ladies against the Yankees. 

I find that it is a great mistake to suppose that the 
Press is gagged in the South, as I constantly see the 
most violent attacks upon the President — upon the 
different generals and their measures. To-day I heard 
the officers complaining bitterly of the " Chattanooga 
Rebel," for publishing an account of Breckenridge's 
departure from this army to reinforce Johnston in 
Mississippi, and thus giving early intelligence to the 
enemy. 



REVIEW OF GENERAL LIDDELl's BRIGADE. 155 

1st June (Monday). — ^We all went to a review of 
General Liddell's brigade at BellbucHe, a distance of 
six miles. There were three carriages full of ladies, 
and I rode an excellent horse, the gift of General 
John Morgan to General Hardee; The weather and 
the scenery were delightful. General Hardee asked 
me particularly whether Mr. Mason had been kindly 
received in England. I replied that I thought he 
had, by private individuals. I have often found the 
Southerners rather touchy on this point. 

General LiddelFs brigade was composed of Arkan- 
sas troops — ^Q, very weak regiments which had suf- 
fered severely in the different battles, and they can- 
not be easily recruited on account of the blockade of 
the Mississippi. The men were good-sized, healthy, 
and well clothed, but without any attempt at uni- 
formity in color or cut ; but nearly all were dressed 
either in gray or brown coats and felt hats. I was 
told that even if a regiment was clothed in proper 
uniform by the Government, it would become parti- 
colored again in a week, as the soldiers preferred 
wearing the coarse home-spun jackets and trousers 
made by their mothers and sisters at home. The 
Generals very wisely allow them to please themselves 
in this respect, and insist only upon their arms and 
accoutrements being kept in proper order. Most of 
the officers were dressed in uniform which is neat 
and serviceable — viz., a bluish-gray frock-coat of a 



156 REVIEW OF GENEEAL LIDDELl's BRIGADE. 

color similar to Austrian yagers. The infantry wear 
blue facings, tlie artillery red, the doctors black, the 
staff white, and the cavalry yellow ; so it is impossi- 
ble to mistake the branch of the service to which an 
officer belongs — ^nor is it possible to mistake his rank. 
A second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and captain, 
wear respectively one, two, and three bars on the 
collar. A major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, 
wear one, two, and three stars on the collar. 

Before the marching past of the brigade, many of 
the soldiers had taken off their coats and marched 
past the general in their shirt-sleeves, on account of 
the warmth. Most of them were armed with Enfield 
rifies captured from the enemy. Many, however, had 
lost or thrown away their bayonets, which they don't 
appear to value properly, as they assert that they have 
never met any Yankees who would wait for that 
weapon. I expressed a desire to see them form 
square, but it appeared they were " not drilled to such 
a manoeuvre" (except square two deep). They said 
the country did not admit of cavalry charges, even 
if the Yankee cavalry had stomach to attempt it. 

Each regiment carried a " battle-flag," blue, with 
a white border, on which were inscribed the names 
"Belmont," " Shiloh," " Perryville," " Eichmond, 
Ky.," and " Murfreesborough." They diilled tolerably 
well, and an advance in line was remarkably good ; 
but General Liddell had invented several dodges of 



feEVIEW OF GENEEAL LIDDELl's BEIGADE. 157 

his own, for which he was reproved by General Har- 
dee. The review being over, the troops were ha- 
rangued by Bishop Elliott in an excellent address, 
partly religions, partly patriotic. He was followed 
by a Congress man of vnlgar appearance, named 
Hanley, from Arkansas, who delivered himself of a 
long and uninteresting political oration, and ended 
by announcing himself as a candidate for re-election. 
This speech seemed to me (and to others) particularly 
ill-timed, out of place, and ridiculous, addressed as 
it was to soldiers in front of the enemy. But this 
was one of the results of universal suffrage. The 
soldiers afterwards wanted General Hardee to say 
something, but he declined. I imagine that the dis- 
cipline in this army is the strictest in the Confed- 
eracy, and that the men are much better marchers 
than those I saw in Mississippi. 

A soldier was shot in "Wartrace this afternoon. 
"We heard the volley just as we left in the cars for 
Shelby ville. His crime was desertion to the enemy ; 
and as the prisoner's brigade was at TuUahoma 
(twenty miles off), he was executed without cere- 
mony by the provost-guard. Spies are hung every 
now and then ; but General Bragg told me it was 
almost impossible for either side to stop the practice. 

Bishop Elliott, Dr. Quintard, and myself got back 
to General Polk's quarters at 5 p. m., where I was in- 
troduced to a Colonel Styles, who was formerly 



158 RIDE TO THE FROKT. 

United States minister at Vienna. In the evening I 
made the acquaintance of General Wheeler, Yan 
Dorn's successor in the command of the cavalry of 
this army, which is over 24,000 strong. He is a very 
little man, only twenty-six years of age, and was 
dressed in a coat much too big for him. He made 
his reputation by protecting the retreat of the army 
through Kentucky last year. He was a graduate of 
West Point, and seems a remarkably zealous officer, 
besides being very modest and unassuming in hig 
manners. General Polk told me that, notwithstand- 
ing the departm^e of Breckenridge, this army is now 
much stronger than it was at the time of the battle 
of Murfreesborough. I think that probably 45,000 
infantry and artillery could be brought together im- 
mediately for a battle. 

^d June (Tuesday). — Colonel Grenfell and I rode 
to the outposts, starting on the rode to Murfrees- 
borough at 6 A. M. It rained hard nearly all day. 
He explained to me the method of fighting adopted 
by the Western cavalry, which he said was admirably 
adapted for this country; but he denied that they 
could, under any circumstances, stand a fan* charge 
../ regular cavalry in the open. Their system is to 
dismount and leave their horses in some secm'e place. 
One man is placed in charge of his own and thi*ee 
other horses, wliilst the remainder act as infantry 



EIDE TO THE FEOlTr. 150 

skirmisliers in tlie dense woods and broken country, 
making a tremendous row, and deceiving the enemy 
as to tlieir numbers, and as to their character as in- 
fantry or cavalry. In this manner Morgan, assisted 
by two small guns, called bull-dogs, attacked the 
Yankees with success in towns, forts, stockades, and 
steamboats ; and by the same system, Wheeler and 
Wharton kept a large pursuing army in check for 
twenty-seven days, retreating and fighting every day, 
and deluding the enem.y with the idea that they were 
being resisted by a strong force composed of all three 
branches of the service. 

Colonel Grenfell told me that the only way in 
which an officer could acquire influence over the 
Confederate soldiers was by his personal conduct 
under fire. They hold a man in great esteem who 
in action sets them an example of contempt for 
danger ; but they think nothing of an officer who is 
not in the habit of leading them ; in fact such a man 
could not possibly retain his position. Colonel Gren- 
fell's expression was, " every atom of authority has 
to be purchased by a drop of your blood." He told 
me he was in desperate hot water with the civil 
authorities of the State, who accuse him of illegally 
impressing and appropriating horses, and also of con- 
niving at the escape of a negro from his lawful owner, 
and he said that the military authorities were afraid 
or unable to give him proper protection. 



160 RIDE TO THE FRONT. 

For tlie first nine miles onr road was quite straight 
and Hilly, -witli a tliick wood on either side. We then 
reached a pass in the hills called Gny's Gap, which, 
from the position of the hills, is very strong, and 
conld be held by a small force. The range of hills 
extends as far as Wartrace, bnt I miderstand the po- 
sition conld be tnrned on the left. Abont two miles 
beyond Gny's Gap were the headquarters of General 
Martin, the officer who commands the brigade of 
cavalry stationed in the neighborhood. General 
Martin showed me the letter sent by the Yankees a 
few days ago by flag of truce with Mr. Yailandigham. 
This letter was curiously worded, and ended, as far 
as I can remember, with this expression : " Mr. Yai- 
landigham is therefore handed over to the respectful 
attention of the Confederate authorities." General 
Martin told me that skirmishing and bushwhacking 
went on nearly every day, and that ten days ago the 
enemy's cavalry, by a bold dash, had captured a field- 
piece close to his own cpiarters. It was, however, 
retaken, and its captors were killed. 

One of General Martin's Staff officers conducted us 
to the bivouac of Colonel Webb (three mxiles further 
along the road), who commanded the regiment on 
outpost duty there — 51st Alabama Cavalry. This 
Colonel Webb was a lawyer by profession, and seem- 
ed a capital fellow ; and he insisted on riding with 
us to the videttes in spite of the rain, and he also de- 



RIDE TO THE FEONT. 161 

sired his regiment to turn out for ns by the time we 
returned. The extreme outposts were about two 
miles beyond Colonel Webb's post, and about sixteen 
miles from Shelbyville. The neutral ground extend- 
ed for about three miles. We rode along it as far as 
it was safe to do so, and just came within sight of the 
Yankee videttes. The Confederate videttes were at 
an interval of from 300 to 400 yards of each other. 
Colonel Webb's regiment was in charge of two miles 
of the front ; and, in a similar manner, the chain of 
videttes was extended by other corps right and left 
for more than eighty miles. Scouts are continually 
sent forward by both sides to collect information. 
Eival scouts and pickets invariably fire on one an- 
other whenever they meet ; and Colonel Webb good- 
naturedly offered, if I was particularly anxious to see 
their customs and habits, to send forward a few men 
and have a little fight. I thanked him much for his 
kind ofier, but begged he wouldn't trouble himself so 
far on my account. Tie showed me the house where 
Yallandigham had been "dumped down" between 
the outposts when they refused to receive him by flag 
of truce. 

The woods on both sides of the road showed many 
signs of the conflicts which are of daily occurrence. 
Most of the houses by the roadside had been destroy- 
ed ; but one plucky old lady had steadfastly refused 
to turn out, although her house was constantly an ob- 



162 GENERAL BEAGG BAPTIZED.' 

ject of contention, and showed many marks of bnllets 
and shell. Ninety-seven men were employed every 
day in Colonel Webb's regiment to patrol the front. 
Tlie remainder of the 51st Alabama were mounted 
and drawn np to receive Colonel Grenfell on our re- 
turn from tlie ontposts. They were uniformly armed 
with long rifles and revolvers, but without sabres, and 
they were a fine body of young men. Their horses 
were in much better condition than might have been 
expected, considering the scanty food and hard duty 
they had had to put up with for the last five months, 
without shelter of any kind, except the trees. Colo- 
nel Grenfell told me they were a very fair specimen 
of the immense number of cavalry with Eragg's army. 
I got back to Shelby ville at 4.30 p. m., just in time to 
be present at an interesting ceremony peculiar to 
America. This was a baptism at the Episcopal 
Church. The ceremony was performed in an im- 
pressive manner by Bishop Elliott, and the person 
baptized w^as no less than the commander-in-chief of 
the army. The bishop took the general's hand in his 
own (the latter kneeling in front of the font), and 
said, " Braxton, if thou hast not already been bap- 
tized, I baptize thee," &c. Immediately afterwards 
he confirmed General Bragg, who then shook hands 
with General Polk, the ofiicers of their respective 
Staffs, and myself, who were the only spectators. 
The soldiers on sentry at General Polk's quarters 



AT GEKEEAL POLk's HEADQUAETEES. 163 

this afternoon were deficient botli of slioes and stock- 
ings. These were the first barefooted soldiers I had 
as yet seen in the Confederacy. 

I had intended to have left Shelhyville to-morrow 
with Bishop Elliott ; but as I was informed that a 
reconnoissance in force was arranged for to-morroYf, 
I accepted General Polk's kind ofier of further hospi- 
tality for a couple of days more. Four of Polk's 
brigades v/ith artillery move to the front to-morrow, 
and General Hardee is also to push forward from 
Wartrace. The object of this movement is to ascer- 
taui the enemy's strength at Murfreesborough, as ru- 
mor asserts that Eosecrans is strengthening Grant in 
Mississippi, which General Bragg is not disposed to 
allow with impunity. The weather is now almost 
chilly. 

Sd June ("Wednesday). — Bishop Elliott left for 
Savannah at 6 A. m., in a downpom^ of rain, which 
continued nearly all day. Grenfell came to see me 
this morning in a towering rage. He had been 
arrested in his bed by the civil power on a charge 
of horse-stealing, and conniving at the escape of a 
negro from his master. General Bragg himself had 
stood bail for him, but Grenfell was naturally furious 
at the indignity. But, even according to his own 
account, he seems to have acted indiscreetly in the 
affair of the negro, and he will have to appear before 



164 COLONEL geen:^ell's aerest. 

the civil court next October. General Polk and his 
officers were all much vexed at the occurrence, vrhich, 
however, is an extraordinary and convincing proof 
that the military had not superseded the civil power 
in the Southern States ; for here was an important 
officer arrested, in spite of the commander-in-chief, 
when in the execution of his office before the enemy. 
By standing bail. General Bragg gave a most positive 
proof that he exonerated Grenfell from any mal- 
practices.* 

* I cut this out of a Charleston paper some days after I had 
parted from Colonel Grenfell : Colonel GrenfeU was only obeying 
General Bragg's orders in depriving the soldier of his horse, and 
temporarily of his money : — 

"Colonel St. Leger Grenfell. — The Western army corre- 
spondent of the ' Mobile Register' writes as follows : — The famous 
Colonel St. Leger GrenfeU, who served with Morgan last summer, 
and since that time has been Assistant Inspector-general of Gen- 
eral Bragg, was arrested a few days since by the civil authorities. 
The sheriff and his officers called upon the bold Englishman before 
he had arisen in the morning, and after the latter had performed 
his toilet duties he buckled on his belt and trusty pistols. The 
officer of the law remonstrated, and the Englisher damned, and a 
struggle of half an hour ensued, in which the stout Britisher made 
a powerful resistance, but, by overpowering force, was at last 
placed hors de coiiibat and disarmed, f The charges were, that he 
retained in his possession the slave of a Confederate citizen, and 
refused to deliver him or her up ; that meeting a soldier coming 



t This is all nonsense— the myrmidons of the law took very good care to 
pounce upon Colonel Grenfell when he was in bed and asleep. 



GENERAL folk's ADVENTTJEE. 165 

In the evening, after dark, General Polk drew mj 
attention to the manner in wMcli the signal beacons 
were worked. One light v/as stationary on the 
gronnd, whilst another was moved backwards and 
forwards over it. They gave ns intelligence that 
General Hardee had pushed the enemy to within 
five miles of Murfreesborono^h, after hea^^ skirmish- 
ing all day. 

I got out of General Polk the story of his cele- 
brated adventure with the Indiana (l!Torthem) 

regiment, which resulted in the almost total destruc- 
tion of that corps. I had often during my travels 
heard officers and soldiers talking of this extraor- 
dinary feat of the "Bishop's." The modest yet 
graphic manner in which General Polk related this 
wonderful instance of coolness and bravery was ex- 

to the army leading a liorse, lie accused him. of being a deserter, 
dismounted Mm, took his horses and equipments and mone^/, 
stating that deserters were not worthy to have either horses or 
money, and sent the owner thereof off where he would not be 
heard of again. The result of the affair was, that Colonel Gren- 
fell, whether guilty or not guilty, delivered up the negro, horses, 
and money to the civil authorities. If the charges against him 
are proven true, then there is no doubt that the course of General 
Bragg will be to dismiss him from his Staff; but if, on the con- 
trary, malicious slanders are defaming this ally, he is Hercules 
enough and brave enough to punish them. His bravery and 
gallantry were conspicuous throughout the Kentucky campaign, 
and it is hoped that this late tarnish on his fame will be removed ; 
or if it be not, that he will." 



166 GENERAL POLk's ADVENTUEE. 

tremely interesting, and I now repeat it, as nearly as 
I can, in his own words. 

" "Well, sir, it was at the battle of Perryyille, late in 
the evening — in fact, it was almost dark when Lid- 
deli's brigade came into action. Shortly after its ar- 
rival I observed a body of men, whom I believed to 
be Confederates, standmg at an angle to this brigade, 
and firing obliqnely at the newly arrived troops. I 
said, ' Dear me, this is very sad, and mnst be stopped ;' 
so I turned round, but conld find none of my yonng 
men, who were absent on difierent messages ; so I 
determined to ride myself and settle the matter. 
Having cantered up to the colonel of the regiment 
which was firing, I asked him in angry tones what he 
meant by shooting his own friends, and I desired him 
to cease doing so at once. He answered with sur- 
prise, ' I don't thinli there can be any mistake about 
it; I am sure they are the enemy." 'Enemy!' I 
said; 'why, I have only just left them myself. Cease 
fii'ing, su' ; what is your name, sir V ' My name is 

ColGnel , of the Indiana j and jpray^ sir^ 

who are you f 

" Then for the first time I saw, to my astonishment, 
that he was a Yankee, and that I was in rear of a regi- 
ment of Yankees. Well, I saw that there was no 
hope but to brazen it out ; my dark blouse and the 
increasing obscurity befriended me, so I approached 
quite close to him and shook my fist in his face, say- 



GENEEAL POLk's ADVENTURE. 167 

ing, ' I'll soon show you wlio I am, sir ; cease firing, sir, 
at once.' I tlien turned my horse and cantered slow- 
ly down tlie line, shouting in an authoritative manner 
to the Yankees to cease firing ; at the same time I 
experienced a disagreeable sensation, like screwing up 
my back, and calculating how many bullets would be 
between my shoulders every moment. I was afraid 
to increase my pace until I got to a small copse, when 
I put the spurs in and galloped back to my men. I 
immediately went up to the nearest colonel, and said 
to him, ' Colonel, I have reconnoitred those fellows 
pretty closely — and I find there is no mistake who 
they are ; you may get up and go at them.' And I 
assure you, sir, that the slaughter of that Indiana regi- 
ment was the greatest I have ever seen in the war."* 

It is evident to me that a certain degree of jealous 
feeling exists between the Tennesseean and Virginian 
armies. This one claims to have had harder fighting 
than the Virginian army, and to have been opposed 
to the best troops and best generals of the ^N'orth. 

The Southerners generally appear to estimate 
highest the northwestern Federal troops, which com 
pose in a great degree the armies of Grant and Rose- 
crans ; they come from the States of Ohio, Iowa, In- 
diana, &e. The Irish Federals are also respected for 

* If tiiese lines sliould ever meet the eyes of General Polk, I 
hope he will forgive me if I have made any error in recording his 
adventure. 



168 A WESTEEUT SKIEI^nSH. 

their fighting qualities ; whilst the genuine Yankees 
and Germans (Dutch) are not much esteemed. 

I Iiave been agreeably disappointed in the climate 
of Tennessee, which appears quite temperate to what 
I had expected. 

Wh June (Thursday). — Colonel Eichmond rode 
with me to the outposts, in order to be present at the 
reconnoissance which was being conducted under the 
command of General Cheetham. Yf e reached the 
field of operations at 2 p. m., and found that Martin's 
cavalry (dismounted) had advanced upon the enemy 
about three miles, and, after some brisk skirmishing, 
had driven in his outposts. The enemy showed about 
2,000 infantry, strongly posted, his guns commanding 
the turnpike-road. The Confederate infantry w^as 
concealed in the woods, about a mile in rear of the 
dismounted cavalry. 

This being the position of affairs, Colonel Rich- 
mond and I rode along the road so far as it was safe 
to do so. We then dismounted, and sneaked on in 
the wood alongside the road until we got to within 800 
yards of the Yankees, whom we then reconnoitred 
leisurely with our glasses. We could only count 
about seventy infantry soldiers, with one field-piece 
in the wood at an angle of the road, and we saw 
several staff officers galloping about with orders. 
"Whilst we were thus engaged, some heavy firing and 



A WESTERN SKIRMISH. 169 

loud cheering suddenly commenced in tlie woods on 
onr left ; so, fearing to be ontilanked, we remounted 
and rode back to an open space, about 600 yards to 
the rear, where we found General Martin giving or- 
ders for the withdrawal of the cavalry horses in the 
front, and the retreat of the skirmishers. 

It was very curious to see three hnndred horses 
suddenly emerge from the wood just in front of us, 
where they had been hidden — one man to every four 
horses, riding one and leading the other three, which 
were tied together by the heads. In this order I saw 
them cross a cotton-field at a smart trot, and take up 
a more secure position ; two or three men cantered 
about in the rear, flanking up the led horses. They 
were shortly afterwards followed by- the men of the 
regiment, retreating in skirmishing order under 
Colonel Webb, and they lined a fence parallel to us. 
The same thing went on on our right. 

As the firing on our left still continued, my friends 
were in great hopes that the Yankees might be in- 
•veigled on to follow the retreating skirmishers until 
they fell in with the two infantry brigades, which 
were lying in ambush for them ; and it was arranged, 
in that case, that some mounted Confederates should 
then get in their rear, and so capture a good number ; 
but this simple and ingenious device was frustrated 
by the sulkiness of the enemy, who now stubbornly 
refused to advance any further. 



170 A WESTEEN SKIRMISH. 

The way in wliicli the horses were managed was 
very pretty, and seemed to answer admirably for this 
sort of skirmishing. They were never far from the 
men, who could mount and be off to another part of 
the field with rapidity, or retire to take np another 
position, or act as cavalry as the case might require. 
Both the superior officers and the men behaved with 
the most complete coolness ; and, whilst we were 
waiting in hopes of a Yankee advance, I heard the 
soldiers remarking that they " didn't like being done 
out of their good boots" — one of the principal ob- 
jects in killing a Yankee being apparently to get 
hold of his valuable boots. 

A tremendous row went on in the woods during 
this bushwhacking, and the trees got knocked about 
in all directions by shell; but I imagine that the 
actual slaughter in these skirmishes is very small, un- 
less they get fairly at one another in the open culti- 
vated spaces between the woods. I did not see or 
hear of anybody being killed to-day, although there 
were a few wounded and some horses killed. Colonel 
Richmond and Colonel "Webb were much disappoint- 
ed that the inactivity of the enemy prevented my 
seeing the skirmish assume larger proportions, and 
General Cheetham said to me, " We should be very 
happy to see you, Colonel, when we are in our regu- 
lar way of doing business." 

After waiting in vain until 5 p. m., and seeing no 



A WESTEEIT BKIEMISH. 171 

signs of any thing more taking place, Colonel Bicli- 
mond and I cantered back to Slielbyville. We were 
accompanied by a detachment of General Polk's 
body-guard, wliicli was composed of young men of 
good position in 'New Orleans. Most of them spoke 
in the French language, and nearly all had slaves in 
the field with them, although they ranked only as 
private soldiers, and had to perform the onerous du- 
ties of orderlies (or couriers, as they are called). On 
our way back we heard heavy firing on our left, from 
the direction in which General "Withers was conduct- 
ing his share of the reconnoissance with two other 
infantry brigades. 

After dark, General Polk got a message from 
Cheetham, to say that the enemy had after all ad- 
vanced in heavy force about 6.15 p. m., and obliged 
him to retire to Guy's Gap. "We also heard that 
General Cleburne, who had advanced from "Wartrace, 
had had his horse shot under him. The object of the 
reconnoissance seemed, therefore, to have been at- 
tained, for apparently the enemy was still in strong 
force at Murfreesborough, and manifested no inten- 
tion of yielding it without a struggle. 

I took leave of General Polk before I turned in. 
His kindness and hospitality have exceeded any thing 
I could have expected. I shall always feel grateful 
to him on this account, and I shall never think of 
liim without admiration for his character as a sincere 



172 SHELBYYILLE TO AUGUSTA. 

patriot, a gallant soldier, and a perfect gentleman. 
His aids-de-camp, Colonels Eichmond and Yeatman, 
are also excellent types of the higher class of South- 
erner. Highly educated, wealthy, and prosperous 
before the war, they have abandoned all for their 
country. They, and all other Southern gentlemen 
of the same rank, are proud of their descent from 
Englishmen. They glory in speaking English as we 
do, and that their manners and feelings resemble 
those of the upper classes in the old country. 'No 
Staff officers could perform their duties with more 
zeal and efficiency than these gentlemen, although 
they were not educated as soldiers. 

6th June (Friday). — I left Shelbyville at 6 A. m., 
after having been shaken hands with affectionately 
by " Aaron," and arrived at Chattanooga at 4 p. m. 
As I was thus far under the protection of Lieutenant 
Bonnelson, of General Polk's Staff, I made this jour- 
ney under more agreeable auspices than the last time. 
The scenery was really quite beautiful. 

East Tennessee is said to contain many people who 
are more favorable to the North than to the South, 
and its inhabitants are now being conscripted by the 
Confederates ; but they sometimes object to this oper- 
ation, and, taking to the hills and woods, commence 
bushwhacking there. 

I left Chattanooga for Atlanta at 4.30 p. m. The 



A FEMALE SOLDIEE. 1Y3 

train was ranch crowded with wonnded and sick sol- 
diers returning on leave to their homes. A goodish- 
looking woman was pointed out to me in the cars as 
having served as a private soldier in the battles of 
Perryville and Mnrfreesborongh. Several men in 
my car had served with her in a Louisianian regi- 
ment, and they said she had been turned out a short 
time since for her bad and immoral conduct. They 
told me that her sex was notorious to all the regi- 
ment, but no notice had been taken of it so long as 
she conducted herself properly. They also said that 
she was not the only representative of the female sex 
in the ranks. When I saw her she wore a soldier's 
hat and coat, but had resumed her petticoats. 

6^A e/i^^^ (Saturday). — Arrived at Atlanta at 3 A. m., 
and took three hours' sleep at the Trouthouse hotel. 
After breakfasting, I started again for Augusta at 7 
A. M. (174 miles) ; but the train had not proceeded 
ten miles before it was brought up by an obstruction, 
in the shape of a broken-down freight train, one of 
whose cars was completely smashed. This delayed 
us for about an hour, but we made up for it after- 
wards, and arrived at Augusta at 5.15 p. m. 

The country through Georgia is undulating, well 
cultivated, and moderately covered With trees ; and 
this part of the Confederacy has as yet suffered but 
b'ttle from the war. At some of the stations provi- 



174 AUGUSTA. 

sions for the soldiers were brouglit into tlie cars by 
ladies, and distributed gratis. "WTien I refused on 
the ground of not being a soldier, these ladies looked 
at me with great suspicion, mingled with contempt, 
and as their looks evidently expressed the words, 
" Then why are you not a soldier ?" I was obliged to 
explain to them who I was, and show them General 
Bragg's pass, which astonished them not a little. I 
was told that Georgia was the only State in which 
soldiers were still so liberally treated — they have be- 
come so very common everywhere else. On reaching 
Augusta, I put up at the Planters'-house hotel, which 
seemed very luxurious to me after so many hours of 
the cars. But the Augusta climate is evidently much 
hotter than Tennessee. 

1th June (Sunday). — ^Augusta is a city of 20,000 
inhabitants ; but its streets being extremely wide, and 
its houses low, it covers a vast space. ~Eo place that 
I have seen ia the Southern States shows so little 
traces of the war, and it formed a delightful contrast 
to the war-worn, poverty-stricken, dried-up towns I 
had lately visited. I went to the Episcopal chm'ch, 
and might almost have fancied myself in England : 
the ceremonies were exactly the same, and the church 
was full of well-dressed people. 

At 2 p. M. I dined at the house of Mr. Carmichael, 
son-in-law to Bishop Elliott, who told me there were 



COLONEL EAINS. 175 

2,000 volunteers in Augusta, regularly drilled and 
prepared to resist raids. These men were exempted 
from the conscription, either on account of their age, 
nationality, or other cause — or had purchased substi- 
tutes. At 3 p. M. Mr. Carmichael sent me in his 
buggy to call on Colonel Rains, the superintendent 
of the Government works here. My principal object 
in stopping at Augusta was to visit the powder manu- 
factory and arsenal; but, to my disappointment, I 
discovered that the present wants of the State did 
not render it necessary to keep these establishments 
open on Sundays. ^ 

I had a long and most interesting conversation 
with Colonel Rains, who is a very clever, highly- 
educated, and agreeable officer. He was brought up 
at West Point, and after a short service in the United 
States army, he became Professor of Chemistry at 
the Military College. He was afterwards much en- 
gaged in the manufacture of machinery in the l^orth- 
ern States. At the commencement of this war, with 
his usual perspicacity. President Davis selected 
Colonel Rains as the most competent person to build 
and to work the Government factories at Augusta, 
giving him c(wte Vlanche to act as he thought best ; 
and the result has proved the wisdom of the Presi- 
dent's choice. Colonel Rains told me that at the 
beginning of the troubles, scarcely a gi'ain of gun- 
powder was manufactured in the whole of the South- 



176 AUGUSTA POWDER-MILLS. 

ern States. ' The Augusta powder-mills and arsenal 
were then commenced, and no less than Y,000 lbs. of 
powder are now made every day in the powder 
manufactory. The cost to the Government of mak- 
ing the powder is only fonr cents a pound. The 
saltpetre (nine-tenths of which runs the blockade 
from England) cost formerly seventy-five cents, but 
has latterly been more expensive. In the construc- 
tion of the powder-mills. Colonel Rains told me he 
had been much indebted to a pamphlet by Major 
Bradley of "Waltham Abbey. 

At the cannon foundry ,,one [N^apoleon 12-pounder 
is tm-ned out every two days ; but it is hoped very 
soon that one of these guns may be finished daily. 
The guns are made of a metal recently invented by 
the Austrians, and recommended to the Confederate 
Government by Mr. Mason. They are tested by a 
charge of ten pounds of powder, and by loading them 
to the muzzle with bolts. Two hundred excellent 
mechanics are exempted from the conscription, to be 
employed at the mills. The wonderful speed with 
which these works have been constructed, their great 
success, and their immense national value, are con- 
vincing proofs of the determined energy of the 
Southern character, now that it has been roused ; and 
also of the zeal and skill of Colonel Eains. He told 
me that Augusta had been selected as a site for these 
works on account of its remoteness from the probable 



GENERAL EIPLEY. 177 

seats of war, of its central position, and of its great 
facilities of transport; for this city can boast of a 
navigable river and a canal, besides being situated on 
a central railroad. Colonel Kains said, tliat altliongh. 
tbe Southerners had certainly been hard up for gun- 
powder at the early part of the war, they were still 
harder up for percussion caps. An immense number 
(I forget how many) of these are now made daily in 
the Government factory at Atlanta. 

I left Augusta at 7 p. m. by train for Charleston. 
My car was much crowded with Yankee prisoners. 

^th June (Monday). — I arrived at Charleston at 5 
A. M., and drove at once in an omnibus to the Charles- 

', ton hotel. At nine o'clock I called at General Beau- 
regard's office, but, to my disappointment, I found that 
he was absent on a tour of inspection in Florida. He 
is, however, expected to return in two or three days. 
I then called on General Ripley, who commands 
the garrison and forts of Charleston. He is a jovial 
character, very fond of the good things of this life ; 
but it is said that he never allows this propensity to 

I interfere with his military duties, in the performance 

of which he displa^^s both zeal and talent. He has 

the reputation of being an excellent artillery officer, 

and although by birth a E'ortherner, he is a red-hot 

and indefatigable rebel. I believe he wrote a book 

about the Mexican war, and after leaving the old 

8* 



178 CHAELESTON. 

army, lie was a good deal in England, connected with 
the small-arms factory at Enfield, and other enter- 
prises of the same sort. ISTearly all the credit of the 
efficiency of the Charleston fortifications is due to 
him. And notwithstanding his ISTorthern birth and 
occasional rollicking habits, he is generally popular. 

I then called on Mr. Robertson, a merchant, for 
whom I had brought a letter of introduction from 
England. This old gentleman took me a diive in his 
buggy at 6 p. m. It appears that at this time of year 
the country outside the city is quite pestilential, for 
when we reached the open, Mr. Robertson pointed to 
a detached house and said, "ISTow, I am as fond of 
money as any Jew, yet I wouldn't sleep in that house 
for one night if you gave it to me for doing so." 

I had intended to have visited Mr. Blake, an Eng- 
lish gentleman for whom I had a letter, on his Com- 
bahee plantation, but Mr. Robertson implored me to 
abandon this idea. Mr. Robertson was full of the 
disasters which had resulted from a recent Yankee 
raid of the Combahee river. It appears that a vast 
amount of property had been destroyed and slaves 
carried off. This morning I saw a poor old planter 
in Mr. Robertson's office, who had been suddenly and 
totally ruined by this raid. ' The raiders consisted 
principally of Northern armed negroes, and as they 
met with no Southern whites to resist them, they were 
able to efl"ect their depredations with total impunity. 



CnAELESTON". 179 

It seems that a good deal of the land about Charles- 
ton belongs either to Blakes or Heywards. Mr. 
Blake lost thirty negroes in the last raid, but he has 
lost since the beginning of the war about 150. 
Mr. Robertson afterwards took me to see Mrs. , 



who is Mr. Walter Blake's daughter. To me, who 
had roughed it for ten weeks to such an extent, 
Charleston appeared most comfortable and luxmious. 
But its inhabitants must, to say the least, be suffer- 
ing great inconvenience. The lighting and paving 
of the city had gone to the bad completely. Most of 
the shops were shut up. Those that were open con- 
tained but very few goods, and those were at famine 
prices. I tried to buy a black scarf, but I couldn't 
jBLrid such an article in all Charleston. 

An immense amount of speculation in blockade- 
running was going on, and a great deal of business is 
evidently done in buying and selling negroes, for the 
papers are full of advertisements of slave auctions. 
That portion of the city destroyed by the great fire 
presents the appearance of a vast wilderness in the 
very centre of the town, no attempt having been made 
towards rebuilding it ; this desert space looks like the 
Pompeian ruins, and extends, Mr. Robertson says, ft)r 
a mile in length by half a mile in width. iN'early all 
the distance between the Mills House hotel and 
Charleston hotel is in this desolate state. The fire 
began quite by accident, but the violent wind which 



180 FOET STJMTEE. 

suddenly arose rendered all attempts to stop the flames 
abortive. The deserted state of the wharves is melan- 
choly — the huge placards announcing lines of steam- 
ers to ISTew York, 'New Orleans, and to difierent parts 
of the world, still remain, and give one an idea of 
what a busy scene they used to be. The people, • 
however, all seem happy, contented, and determined. 
Both the great hotels are crowded ; and well dressed, 
handsome ladies are plentiful ; the fare is good, and the 
charge at the Charleston hotel is eight dollars a day. 

9th Jime (Tuesday). — A Captain Feilden came to 
call upon me at 9 a. m. He is an Englishman, and 
formerly served in the 42d Highlanders. He is now 
m the Confederate army, and is on the staff of Gen- 
eral Beauregard's army. I remember his brother 
quite well at Sandhurst. Captain Feilden accom- 
panied me to General Bipley's office, and at 12 o'clock 
the latter officer took us in his boat to inspect Fort 
Sumter. Our party consisted of an invalid General 
Davis, a Congressman named ]^utt. Captain Feilden, 
the general, and myself. "We reached Fort Sumter 
after a pull of abont three-quarters of an hour.* This 
now celebrated fort is a pentagonal work built of red 
brick. It has two tiers of casemates, besides a heavy 

* As Fort Sumter must be in a very different state now to what 
it was when I saw it, I think there can be no harm in describing 
the fort as it then stood. — Nov., 1863. 



FOET SUMTEE. 181 

barbette battery. Its walls are twelve feet thick at 
the piers, and six feet thick at the embrasures. It 
rises sheer out of the water, and is apparently situated 
in the centre of the bay, but on its side towards James 
Island the water is extremely shallow. It mounts 
sixty-eight guns, of a motley but efficient description. 
Ten-inch columbiads predominate, and are perhaps 
the most useful. They weigh 14,000 lb. (125 cwt.), 
throw a solid shot weighing 128 lb., and are made to 
traverse with the greatest ease by means of Yates's 
system of cogwheels. There are also eight-inch co- 
lumbiads, rifled forty-two pounders, and Brook guns 
to throw flat-headed projectiles (General Kipley told 
me that these Brook guns, about which so much is 
said, differ but little from the Blakely cannon) ; also 
there are Parrot guns and Dahlgrens ; in fact, a gen- 
eral assortment of every species of ordnance except 
"Whitworths and Armstrongs. But the best gun in 
the fort is a fine new eleven-inch gun, which had just 
been fished up from the wreck of the Keokuk ; the 
sister gun from the same wreck is at . The gar- 
rison consists of 350 enlisted soldiers under Colonel 
Ehett. They are called Confederate States regulars, 
and certainly they saluted in a more soldier-like way 
than the ordinary volunteers. A great proportion of 
them are foreigners. 

Fort Sumter now shows but little signs of the bat- 
tering it underwent from the ironclads eight weeks 



182 FOET SmiTEE. 

ago. The two faces exposed to fire have been patched 
up so that large pieces of masonry have a newer ap- 
pearance than the mass of the building. The guns 
have been removed from the casemates on the eastern 
face, and the lower tier of casemates has been filled 
up with earth to give extra strength, and prevent the 
balls from coming right through into the interior of 
the work, which happened at the last attack. There 
is consequently a deep hole in the parade inside Fort 
Sumter, from which the earth had been taken to fill 
up these casemates. The angles of Sumter are being 
strengthened outside by stone buttresses. Some of 
the cheeks of the upper embrasures have been faced 
with blocks of u'on thi*ee feet long, eight inches thick, 
and twelve inches wide. I saw the effect of a heavy 
shot on one of these blocks which had been knocked 
right away, and had fallen in two pieces on the rocks 
below, but it had certainly saved the embrasure from 
further injury that time. I saw some solid fifteen-inch 
shot which had been fired by the enemy : they weigh 
425 lb. I was told that several fifteen-inch shell had 
stuck in the walls and burst there, tearing away great 
flakes of masonry, and making holes two feet deep at 
the extreme. "None of the ironclads would approach 
aearer than nine hundred yards, and the Keokuk, 
which was the only one that came thus close, got out 
of order in -Qye minutes, and was completely disabled 
in a quarter of an hour. She sank on the following 



CHAELESTOK HAEBOE. 183 

morning. Solid ten-inch shot and seven-inch flat- 
heads were used upon her. Ripley said he would give 
a great deal for some more eleven-inch guns, but he 
can't get them except by such chances as the Keokuk. 

The fight only lasted two hours and twenty-five 
minutes. Fort Sumter bore nearly the v/hole weight 
of the attack, assisted in a slight degree by Moultrie. 
Only one man was killed, which was caused by the 
fall of the flagstaff. The Confederates were unable 
to believe until some time afterwards the real amount 
of the damage they had inflicted ; nor did they dis- 
cover until next day that the affair was a serious at- 
tack, and not a reconnoissance. General Eipley 
spoke with the greatest confidence of being able to 
repulse any other attack of the same sort. Colonel 
Rhett, the commandant, entertained us with luncheon 
in one of the casemates. He is a handsome and agree- 
able man, besides being a zealous officer. He told me 
that one of the most efficient of his subordinates was 
Captain Mitchell, son to the so-called Irish patriot, 
who is editor of one of the Richmond newspapers. 

From the summit of Fort Sumter a good general 
view is obtained of the harbor, and of the fortifications 
commanding .the approach to Charleston. Castle 
Pinckney and Fort Sumter are two old masonry 
works built on islands — Pinckney being much closer 
to the city than Sumter. Between them is Fort Rip- 
ley, which mounts heavy guns. Moultrieville, 



184 BLOCKADE KUNNIIsra 

with its niimerous forts, called Battery Bee, Fort 
Moultrie, Fort Beauregard, &c., is on Sullivan's 
Island, one mile distant from Fort Sumter. Tliere 
are excellent arrangements of , and other con- 
trivances, to foul the screw of a vessel between Sum- 
ter and Moultrie. On the other side of Fort Sumter 
is Fort Johnson, on James Island, Fort Cummins 
Point, and Fort Wagner, on Morris Island. In fact, 
both sides of the harbor for several miles appear to 
. bristle with forts mounting heavy guns. 

The bar, beyond which we counted thirteen block- 
aders, is nine miles from the city. Sumter is three 
and a half miles from the city. Two or three thou- 
sand Yankees are now supposed to be on Folly Island, 
which is next beyond Morris Island, and in a day or 
two they are to be shelled from the Confederate bat- 
teries on Morris Island. The new Confederate flag, 
which bears a strong resemblance to the British white 
ensign, was flying from most of the forts. 
^ In returning we passed several blockade-runners, 
amongst others the steamer Kate, with the new double 
screw. These vessels are painted the same color as 
the water ; as many as three or four often go in and 
out with impunity during one night ; but they never 
attempt it excej)t in cloudy weather. They are very 
seldom captured, and charge an enormous price for 
passengers and freight. It is doubtful whether the 
traffic of the private blockade-runners doesn't do more 



CHAELESTOK. 185 

harm tlian good to the country by depreciating its 
currency, and they are generally looked upon as regu- 
lar gambling speculations. I have met many persons 
who are of opinion that the trade ought to be stopped, 
except for government stores and articles necessary; 
for the public welfare. J 

After we had landed. Captain Fielden took me on 
board one of the new ironclads which are being built, 
and which are supposed to be a great improvement 
upon the Chicora and Palmetto State ; these are al- 
ready afloat, and did ^od service last February by 
issuhig suddenly forth, and driving away the whole 
blockading squadron for one day. Last night these 
two active little vessels were out to look after some 
blockaders which were supposed to have ventured 
inside the bar. 

At 5 p. M. I dined with General and Mrs. Eipley. 
The dinner was a very sumptuous one, for a " block- 
ade" dinner, as General Ripley called it. The other 
guests were Gen. Jordan, Chief of the Staff to Beau- 
regard; Gen. Davis, Mr. J^utt, and Col. Ehett, of 
Fort Sumter. The latter told me that if the ironclads 
had come any closer than they did, he should have 
dosed them with flat-headed bolts out of the smooth- 
bore guns, which, he thinks, could travel accurately 

enough for 500 or 600 yards. Mrs. H asked me 

to an evening party, but the extreme badness of my 
clothes compelled me to decline the invitation. 



186 MOEEIS ISLAJTD. 

10th June (Wednesday). — I dined with Mr. and 

Mrs. II this afternoon, and after dinner they drove 

me to the Battery, which is the popular promenade. 
A great many well-dressed people and a few carriages 

were there, but the H s say it is nothing to what 

it was. Most of the horses and carriages have been 
sent ont of Charleston since the last attack. Mrs. 

H told me all the ladies began to move out of 

Charleston on the morning after the repnlse of the 
Monitors, the impression being that the serious attack 
was about to begin. I talked to her about the smart 
costumes of the negro women on Sundays ; she said 
the only difference between them and their mistresses 
is, that a mulatto woman is not allowed to wear a 
veil. 

11th June (Thursday). — General Eipley took me in 
his boat to Morris Island. We passed Fort Sumter 
on our left, and got aground for five minutes in its 
immediate neighborhood; then bearing off towards 
the right, we passed Fort Cummins Point, and (after 
entering a narrow creek) Fort Wagner on our left. 
The latter is a powerful, well-constructed field-work, 
mounting nine heavy guns, and it completely cuts 
across Moms Island at the end nearest to Fort Sumter. 
General Ripley pointed at Fort Wagner with some 
pride. 

We landed near the house of the colonel who com- 



MOEEis isla:nd. 187 

manded the troops in Morris Island,* and borrowed 
his horses to ride to the further extremity of the 
island. "We passed the wreck of the Keokuk, whose 
turret was just visible above the water, at a distance 
from the shore of about 1500 yards. On this beach 
I also inspected the remains of the so-called " Yankee 
Devil," a curious construction, which on the day of 
the attack had been pushed into the harbor by one 
of the Monitors. This vessel, with her appendage, 
happened to be the first to receive the fire of Fort 
Sumter, and after a quarter of an hour Monitor and 
Devil got foul of one another, when both came to 
grief, and the latter floated harmlessly ashore. It 
seems to have been composed of double twenty-inch 
beams, forming a sort of platform or stage fifty feet 
long by twenty broad, from which depended chains 
with gra^Dpling irons to rake up hostile torpedoes. 
The machine was also provided with a gigantic tor- 
pedo of its own, which was to blow up piles or other 
obstacles. 

Morris Island is a miserable, low, sandy desert, and 
at its further extremity there is a range of low sand- 

* This must have been about the spot from whence Fort Sumter 
was afterwards bombarded. I cannot help thinking that the Con- 
federates made a great mistake in not fortifying the further end of 
Morris Island and keeping a larger garrison there, for when the 
Federals landed, they met with no fortification until they reached 
Fort Wagner. 



188 l-HE ETJBY. 

hills, which form admirable natural parapets. About 
ten guns and mortars were placed behind them, and 
two companies of regular artillery were stationed at 
this point under the command of Captain Mitchell 
(the " patriot's" son), to whom I was introduced. He 
seemed a quiet, unassuming man, and was spoken oi 
by General Ripley as an excellent officer. He told 
me he expected to be able to open fire in a day or 
two upon the Yankees in Folly Island and Little 
Folly; and he expressed a hope that a few shell 
might drive them out from Little Folly, which is only 
distant 600 yards from his guns. The enemy's large 
batteries are on Folly Island, 3400 yards off, but 
within range of Captain Mitchell's rifled artillery, one 
of which was a twelve-pounder Whitworth. 

A blockade-runner, named the Ruby, deceived by 
some lights on Folly Island, ran ashore at one o'clock 
this morning in the narrow inlet between Morris 
Island and Little Folly. The Yankees immediately 
opened fire on her, and her crew, despairing of get- 
ting her off, set her on fire — a foolish measure, as she 
was right under Captain Mitchell's guns — and when- 
ever a group of Yankees approached the wreck, a 
shell was placed in their midst, which effectually 
checked their curiosity. The Ruby was therefore 
burning in peace. Her crew had escaped, all except 
one man, who was drowned in trying to save a val- 
uable trunk. 



CHAELESTON. 189 

After having conversed some time with Captain 
Mitchell and his brother oiScers, we took leave of 
them ; and General Riple j, pursuing his tour of in- 
spection, took me up some of the numerous creeks 
which intersect the low marshy land of James Island. 
In one of these I saw the shattered remains of the 
sham Keokuk, which was a wooden imitation of its 
equally short-lived original, and had been used as a 
floating target by the different forts. 

In passing Fort Sumter, I observed that the eastern 
face, from which the guns (except those en 'barbette) 
had been removed, was being further strengthened by 
a facing of twelve feet of sand, supported by logs of 
wood. There can be no doubt that Sumter could be 
destroyed, if a vessel could be found impervious 
enough to lie pretty close in and batter it for ^^ 
hours ; but with its heavy armament and plunging 
fire, this catastrophe was not deemed probable. Gen- 
eral Ripley told me that, in his opinion, the proper 
manner to attack Charleston, was to land on Morris 
Island, take Forts Wagner and Cummings Point, and 
then turn their guns on Fort Sumter. He does not 
think much of the 15-inch guns. The enemy does 
not dare use more than 35 lb. of powder to propel 
425 lb. of iron ; the velocity consequently is very tri- 
fling. He knows and admires the British 68-pounder, 
weighing 95 cwt., but he does not think it heavy 
enough effectually to destroy iron-clads. He consid- 



190 CAPTAIN TUCKER OF THE CHICOEA. 

ers the ll-inch gun, tlirowing a shot of 170 lb., as the 
most efficient for that purpose. 

In returning from Morris Island, we passed two 
steamers, which had successfully run the blockade 
last night, besides the luckless Euby, which had 
also passed the blockading squadron before she 
came to grief. The names of the other two are 
the Anaconda and Racoon, both fine-looking ves- 
sels. 

I dined at Mr. Eobertson's, at the corner of Eut- 
ledge-street, and met Captain Tucker of the navy 
there. He is a very good fellow, and a perfect gen- 
tleman. He commands the Chicora gunboat, and it 
was he who, with his own and another gunboat (Pal- 
metto State), crossed the bar last February, and 
raised the blockade for a few hours. He told me 
that several Yankee blockaders surrendered, but 
could not be taken possession of, and the others 
bolted at such a pace as to render pursuit hopeless, 
for these little gunboats are very slow. They made 
the attack at daylight, and though much fired at were 
never struck. They seem to have taken the Yankees 
by surprise, and to have created great alarm ; but at 
that time the blockading squadron consisted entirely 
of improvised men-of-war. Since this exploit, the 
fi-igate Ironsides, and the sloop of war Powhatan, 
have been added to its strength. 

It poured with rain during the evening, and we 



CHAELESTON — A SLAVE AUCTION. 191 

had a violent tlumderstorm. General Beauregard 
returned to Charleston this afternoon. 

VUlh June (Friday). — I called at an exchange office 
this morning, and asked the value of gold ; they of- 
fered me six to one for it. I went to a slave auction 
at 11 ; but they had been so quick about it that the 
whole affair was over before I arrived, although I was 
only ten minutes late. The negroes — about fifteen 
men, three women, and three children — ^were seated 
on benches, looking perfectly contented and indiffer- 
ent. I saw the buyers opening the mouths and show- 
ing the teeth of their new pmxhases to tlieir friends 
in a very business-hke manner. This was certainly 
not a very agreeable spectacle to an Englishman, and 
I know that many Southerners participate in the 
same feeling ; for I have often been told by people 
that they, had never seen a negro sold by auction, 
and never wished to do so. It is impossible to men- 
tion names in connection with such a subject, but I 
am perfectly aware that many influential men in the 
South feel humiliated and annoyed with several of 
the incidents connected with slavery ; and I think 
that if the Confederate States were left alone, the 
system would be much modified and amended, al- 
though complete emancipation cannot be expected ; 
for the Southerners believe it to be as impracticable 
to cultivate cotton on a large scale in the South, 



192 THE CHICOHA. 

without forced black labor, as the British have found 
it to produce sugar in Jamaica ; and they declare 
that the example the English have set them of sudden 
emancipation in that island is by no means encour- 
aging. They say that that magnificent colony, form- 
erly so wealthy and prosperous, is now nearly value- 
less — the land going out of cultivation — the Whites 
ruined — the Blacks idle, slothful, and supposed to be 
in a great measure relapsing into their primitive 
barbarism. 

At twelve o'clock I called by appointment on Cap- 
tain Tucker, on board the Chicora.* The accommo- 
dation below is good, considering the natm'e and 
peculiar shape of the vessel ; but in hot weather the 
quarters are very close and unhealthy, for which rea- 
son she is moored alongside a wharf, on which her 
crew live. Captain Tucker expressed great confi- 
dence in his vessel during calm weather, and when 
not exposed to a plunging fii-e. He said he should 
not hesitate to attack even the present blockading 
squadron, if it were not for certain reasons which he 
explained to me. 

Captain Tucker expects great results from certain 
newly-invented submarine inventions, which he thinks 
are sure to succeed. He told me that, in the April 
attack, these two gunboats were placed in the rear 

* I liave omitted a description of this littlfe gimboat, as slie is 
Btill doing good service in Charleston liarbor. — ^November, 1863. 



GEKEE^U. BEAUEEGAED, 193 

of Fort Sumter, and if, as was anticipated, tlie Mon- 
itors had managed to force their way past Sumter, 
tliej would have been received from different direc- 
tions hj the powerful battery Bee on Sullivan's 
Island, by this island. Forts Pinckney and Bipley, 
by the two gunboats, and by Fort Johnson on James 
Island — a nest of hornets from which perhaps they 
would never have returned. 

At 1 p. M. I called on General Beauregard, who is 
a man of middle height, about forty-seven years of 
age. He would be very youthful in appearance were 
it not for the color of his hau*, which is much grayer 
than his earlier photographs represent. Some per- 
sons account for the sudden manner in which his hair 
turned gray by allusions to his cares and anxieties 
during the last two years ; but the real and less ro- 
mantic reason is to be found in the rigidity of the 
Yankee blockade, which interrupts the arrival of 
articles of toilet. He has a long straight nose, 
handsome brown eyes, and a dark mustache without 
whiskers, and his manners are extremely polite. He 
is a ISTew Orleans Creole, and French is his native 
language. 

He was extremely civil to me, and arranged that I 

should see some of the land fortifications to-morrow. 

He spoke to me of the inevitable necessity, sooner oi 

later, of a war between the Northern States and 

Great Britain; and he remarked that, if England 

9* 



194: GEITEEAL BEAUEEGAED. 

would join tlie Soiitli at once, the Southern armies, 
relieved of the present blockade and enormous Yan- 
kee pressure, Vv^ould be able to march right into the 
ISTorthern States, and, by occupying their principal 
cities, would give the Yankees so much employment 
that they would be unable to spare many men for 
Canada. He acknowledged that in Mississippi, Gen- 
eral Grant had displayed uncommon vigor, and met 
with considerable success, considering that he was a 
man of no great military capacity. He said that 
Johnston Was certainly acting slowly and with much 
caution ; but then he had not the veteran troops of 
Eragg or Lee. He told me that he (Eeauregard) had 
organized both the Yirginian and Tennessean armies. 
Both are composed of the same materials, both have 
seen much service, though, on the whole, the fii^st had 
been the most severely tried. He said that in the 
Confederate organization a brigade is composed of 
four regiments, a division ought to number 10,000 
men, and a cot])s cVarmee 40,000. But I know that 
neither Polk nor Hardee have got any thing like 
that number.* 

At 5.30 p. M. the firing on Morris Island became 
distinctly audible. Captain Mitchell had evidently 
commenced his operations against Little Folly. 

While I was walking on the battery this evening, a 

* A division does nearly always number 10,000 men, but tlien 
tliere are generally only two or three divisions in a corps d'armee. 



ME. IM^TEES OF THE STIMTEE. 195 

gentleman came up to me and recalled himself to my 
recollection as Mr. Meyers of the Sumter, whom I had 
known at Gibraltar a year ago. This was one of the 
two persons who were arrested at Tangier by the 
. acting United States consul in such an outrageous 
manner. He told me that he had been kept in irons 
during his whole voyage, in the merchant vessel, to 
the United States ; and, in spite of the total illegality 
of his capture on neutral ground, he was imprisoned 
for four months in Fort Warren, and not released 
until regularly exchanged as a prisoner of war. Mr. 
Meyers was now most anxious to rejoin Captain 
Semmes, or some other rover. 

I understand that when the attack took place in 
April, the garrison of Fort Sumter received the Moni- 
tors with great courtesy as they steamed up. The 
three flagstaffs were dressed with flags, the band from 
the top of the fort played the national airs, and a 
salute of twenty-one guns was fired, after which the en- 
tertainment provided was of a more solid description. 

IZth Jime (Saturday). — Colonel Eice, aid-de-camp 
to General Beauregard, rode with me to " Secession- 
ville" this mornins;. I was mounted on the horse 
which the General rode at Manassas and Shiloh. We 
reached James Island by crossing the long wooden 
bridge which spans the river Ashley. The land of 
James Island is low and marshy, and is both by re- 



196 SECESSIONVrLLE. 

pute and in appearance most nnliealthy. Three years 
ago no white men would have dreamed of occupying 
it at this time of year ; but now that the necessity 
has arisen, the troops, curiously enough, do not ap- 
pear to suffer. 

" Secessionville," the most advanced and most im- 
portant of the James Island fortifications, is distant 
by road eight miles from Charleston bridge, with 
which it is connected by a chain of forts. It was sur- 
prised by the enemy just a year ago (June, 1862), and 
was the scene of a desperate conflict, which resulted 
in the repulse of the Federals with a loss of nearly 800 
men. The Confederates lost 150 men on this occa- 
sion, which as yet has been the only serious loss of ' 
life at Charleston during the war. Colonel Lamar, 
who commanded the garrison with great gallantry, 
was one of the few victims to yellow fever last year. 
The Yankees attacked the fort three times with much 
bravery and determination, and actually reached the 
superior slope of the parapet before they were driven 
back. They were withiu an ace of being successful ; 
and although they deserved great credit for theu' be- 
havior on that occasion, yet it is understood that the 
officer who organized the attack has either been dis- 
missed the service or otherwise punished. 

Lieutenant-colonel Brown, the commandant, who 
showed me over the fort and bomb-proofs, is quite 
young, full of zeal, and most anxious to be attacked ; 



CHAELESTON. 197 

lie has artillerymen to man tMs and the neigh- 
boring works, and two regiments of infantry are also 
encamped within a short distance. 

At the time of the attack on Charleston last April, 
there were 30,000 men to defend it ; since that time 
20,000 had been sent into Mississippi to reinforce 
Johnston. I imagine that, as the fortifications are so 
very extensive, the Charleston garrison ought to con- 
sist of at least 30,000 men. 

14:th June (Sunday). — I went to chnrch at St. 
Michael's, which is one of the oldest churches in 
America, and is supposed to have been built a hu?i- 
dred and fifty years ago. The Charlestonians are 
very proud of it, and I saw several monuments of the 
time of the British dominion. 

This morning I made the acquaintance of a Mr. 
Sennec, an officer in the Confederate States navy, 
who, with his wife and daughter, were about to face 
the terrors and dangers of running the blockade, Mr. 
Sennec having got an appointment in Europe. The 
ladies told me they had already made one start, but 
after reaching the bar, the night was not considered 
propitious, so they had returned. Mr. Sennec is 
thinking of going to Wilmington, and running from 
thence, as it is more secure than Charleston. 

I dined at Mr. Eobertson's this evening, and met 
a very agreeable party there — viz., two young ladies, 



198 CHAELESTON". 

who were extremely pretty, General Beauregard, Cap- 
tain Tucker of the Chicora, and Major Norris, the 
chief of the secret intelligence bureau at Richmond. 

I had a Ions; conversation with General Beaure- 
gard, who said he considered the question of iron- 
clads versus forts as settled, especially when the fire 
from the latter is plunging. If the other Monitors 
had approached as close as the Keokuk, they would 
probably have shared her fate. He thought that 
both flat-headed rifled 7-inch bolts and- solid 10-inch 
balls penetrated the ironclads when within 1,200 
yards. He agreed with General Bipley that the 15- 
in^h gun is rather a failure ; it is so unwieldy that it 
can only be fired very slowly, and the velocity of the 
ball is so small that it is very diflicult to strike a 
moving object. He told me that Fort Sumter was 
to be covered by degrees with the long green moss 
which in this country hangs down from the trees : 
he thinks that when this is pressed it will deaden the 
effect of the shot without being inflammable ; and he 
also said that, even if the walls of Fort Sumter were 
battered down, the barbette battery would still re- 
main, supported on the piers. 

The Federal frigate Ironsides took up her position, 
during the attack, over 3,000 lb. of powder, which was 
prevented from exploding owing to some misfortune 
connected with the communicating wire. General 
Beauregard and Captain Tucker both seemed to ex- 



CHAELESTON. 199 

pect great tMngs from a newly invented and extra- 
diabolical torpedo-ram. 

After dinner, Major IN'orris showed ns a copy of a 
ITew York illustrated l^ewspaper of tlie same cliarac- 
ter as onr " Punch." In it the President Davis and 
General Beanregard were depicted shoeless and in 
rags, contemplating a pair of boots, which the latter 
suggested had better be eaten. This caricature ex- 
cited considerable amusement, especially when its 
merits were discussed after Mr. Pobertson's excellent 
dinner. General Beauregard told me he had been 
educated in the North, and used to have many friends 
there, but that now he would sooner submit to the 
Emperor of China than return to the Union. 

Mr. Walter Blake arrived soon after dinner ; he 
had come up from his plantation on the Combahee 
river on purpose to see me. He described the results 
of the late Yankee raid up that river : forty armed 
negroes and a few whites in a miserable steamer were 
able to destroy and burn an incalculable amount of 
property, and carry off hundreds of negroes. Mr. 
Blake got off very cheap, having only lost twenty- 
four this time, but he only saved the remainder by 
his own personal exertions and determination. He 
had now sent all his young males two hundred miles 
into the interior for greater safety. He seemed to 
have a very rough time of it, living all alone in that 
pestilential climate. A neighboring planter, Mi-. 



200 EIVEE-GEOPEES. 

LovTndes, had lost 290 negroes, and a Mr. Kirldand 
was totally ruined. 

At 7 p. M. Mr. Blake and I called at tlie office of 
General Eipley, to wliom Mr. Blake, notwithstanding 
that he is an Englishnxan of nearly sixty years of age, 
had served as aid-de-camp during some of the former 
operations against Charleston. General Ripley told 
us that shelling was still going on vigorously between 
Morris and Folly Islands, the Yankees being assisted 
every now and then by one or more of their gunboats. 
The General explained to us that these light-draft 
armed vessels — river-grocers^ as he called them — were 
indefatigable at pushing up the numerous creeks, burn- 
ing and devastating every thing. He said that when 
he became acquainted with the habits of one of these 
" critturs," he arranged an ambuscade for her, and 
with the assistance of " his fancy Irishman" (Captain 
Mitchell), he captured her. This was the case with 
the steamer Stono, a short time since, which, hav- 
ing been caught in this manner by the army, was 
lost by the navy shortly afterwards off Sullivan's 
Island. 

!N'ews has just been received that Commodore 
Poote is to succeed Dupont in the command of the 
blockading squadron. Most of these officers appeared 
to rejoice in this change, as they say Foote is younger, 
and likely to show more sport than the venerable 
Dupont. 



M'CAETHY. 201 

16th June (Monday). — I called on General Beaure- 
gard to say good-by. Before parting, he told me 
that his official orders, both from the Government 
and from the Town-Conncil, were, that he was to 
allow Charleston to be laid in ashes sooner than sur- 
render it ; the Confederates being nnanimons in their 
determination that, whatever happened, the capital 
of Sonth Carolina should never have to snbmit to the 
fate of IN^ew Orleans. But General Beauregard did 
not at all anticipate that such an alternative was im- 
minent. In answer to my thanks for his kindness 
and courtesy, he said that the more Europeans that 
came to the South, the more the Southernei's were 
pleased, as seeing was the only way to remove many 
prejudices. He declared every thing here was open 
and above board, and I really believe this is the case. 
Most certainly the civil law is not overruled by the 
military, except in cases of the strongest emergency. 
The press is allowed the most unlimited freedom, and 
even license. Whenever excesses take place, and the 
law is violated, this is caused by the violence of the 
people themselves, who take the law into their own 
hands. General Beauregard sent his love to Sir 
James Fergusson, who had visited him during the 
early part of the war ; so also did General Jordan, 
Chief of the Staff. 

Before taking my departure from the hotel, I was 

much gratified by meeting McCarthy, who had just 

9* 



202 WILMINGTON BLOCKADE-EUNNTSra 

returned from Eichmond. He had had tlie good 
fortune to cross the Mississippi a little later than me, 
and he had encountered comparatively few obstacles. 

I left Charleston by rail at 2 p. m., in company with 
Mr. Sennec, his wife, and daughter ; and Major ISTor- 
ris, who was extremely kind and useful to me. I de- 
clined travelling in the ladies' car, although offered 
that privilege — the advantage of a small amount of 
extra cleanliness being outweighed by the screaming 
of the children, and the constant liability of being 
turned out of one's place for a female. 

Major Norris told me many amusing anecdotes 
connected with the secret intelligence department, 
and of the numerous ingenious methods for com- 
municating with the Southern partisans on the other 
side of the Potom-ac. 

We reached Florence at 9 p. m., where we were de- 
tained for some time owing to a break-down of an- 
otlier train. We then fought our way into some 
desperately crowded cars, and continued om- journey 
throughout the night. 

IQtli June (Tuesday). — Arrived at Wilmington at 
5 A. M., and crossed the river there in a steamer. This 
river was quite full of blockade runners. I counted 
eight large steamers, all handsome leaden-colored 
vessels, which ply their trade with the greatest regu- 
larity. Half these ships were engaged in carrying 



MR. VALLAm)IGHAM. 203 

goods on Government account ; and I was told tliat 
the quantity of boots, clotliing, saltpetre, lead, and 
tin, which they bring into the country, is very great. 
I cannot suppose that in ordinary times there would 
be any thing like such a trade as this, at a little place 
like Wilmington, which shows the absurdity of call- 
ing the blockade an efficient one. 

This blockade running is an extraordinary instance 
of British energy and enterprise. When I was at 
Charleston, I asked Mr. Bobertson whether any 
French vessels had run the blockade. In rej^ly he 
told me it was a very peculiar fact that " one of the 
partners of Fraser & Co. being a Frenchman, was 
extremely anxious to engage a French vessel in the 
trade. Expense was no object ; the ship and the 
cargo were forthcoming ; nothing was wanted but a 
French captain and a French crew (to make the ship 
legally French) ; but although any amount of money 
was offered as an inducement, they were not to be 
found, and this obstacle was insurmomitable." Not 
the slightest difficulty is experienced at Liverpool in 
officering and manning any number of ships for this 
purpose. 

Major Korris went to call upon Mr. Yallandigham, 
whom he had escorted to Wilmington as a sort of 
semi-prisoner some days ago. Mr. Yallandigham was 
in bed. He told Major l^orris that he intended to 
run the blockade this evening for Bermuda, from 



204 WILMINGTON TO EICHMOND. 

whence lie should find his way to tlie Clifton Hotel, 
Canada, where he intended to publish a newspaper, 
and agitate Ohio across the frontier. Major l^orris 
found him much elated by the news of his having 
been nominated for the governorship of Ohio ; and 
he declared if he was duly elected, his State could 
dictate peace. 

In travelling through the country to Wilmington, 
these two used to converse much on politics; and 
Major IlTorris once said to him, " 'Now, from what you 
have seen and heard in your journey through the 
South, you must know that a reconstruction of the 
old Union, under any circumstances, is utterly im- 
possible." Yallandigham had replied, "Well, all I 
can say is, I hope, and at all events I know, that my 
scheme of a suspension of hostilities is the only one 
which has any prospect of ultimate success."^' 

At Wilmington I took leave with regret of Mr. 
Sennec and his family, who were also to run the 
blockade this evening. Miss Sennec is much too 
pretty to risk a collision with a fragment of a shell ; 
but here no one seems to think any thing of the risk 
of passing through the Yankee fleet, as the " runners," 
though often fired at, are very seldom hit or captured, 

* I have often heard Soutlierners speak of tliis proposal of Val- 
landigliam's as most insidious and dangerous ; but tlie opinion now 
is that things have gone too far to permit reunion under any cir- 
cumstances. 



1 



WILMINGTON TO EICHMOND. 205 

and their captains are becoming more and more 
knowing every day. I was obliged to go to the pro- 
vost-marslial's office to get Beauregard's pass renewed 
there, as E'orth Carolina is out of his district : in do- 
ing so I very nearly missed the train. 

I left "Wilmington at 7 A. m. The weather was 
very hot and oppressive, and the cars dreadfully 
crowded all day. The luxuries of Charleston had 
also spoiled me for the " road," as I could no longer 
appreciate at their proper value the "hog and 
hominy" meals which I had been so thankful for in 
Texas; but I found Major ISTorris a very agreeable 
and instructive companion. We changed cars again 
at "Weldon, where I had a terrific fight for a seat, but 
I succeeded ; for experience had made me very quick 
at this sort of business. I always carry my saddle- 
bags and knapsack with me into the car. 

17th June (Wednesday). — We reached Petersburgh 
at 3 A. M., and had to get out and traverse this town 
in carts, after which we had to lie down in the road 
until some other cars were opened. We left Peters- 
burgh at 5 A. M. and arrived at Pichmond at Y A. m., 
having taken forty-one hours coming from Charles- 
ton. 

The railroad between Petersburgh and Pichmond 
is protected by extensive field-works, and the woods 
have been cut down to give range. An irruption of 



206 EICHMOND. 

the enemy in this direction has evidently been con- 
templated; and we met a brigade of infantry half- 
way between Petersburgh and Eichmond on its way 
to garrison the latter place, as the Yankees are re- 
ported to be menacing in that neighborhood. 

The scenery near Richmond is very pretty, and 
rather English-looking. The view of the James 
River from the railway bridge is quite beautiful, 
though the water is rather low at present. The 
weather was extremely hot and oppressive, and, for 
the first time since I left Havana, I really suffered 
from the heat. 

At 10 A. M., I called on General Cooper, Adjutant- 
general to the Confederate forces, and senior general 
in the army. He is brother-in-law to Mr. Mason, the 
Southern Commissioner in London. I then called 
upon Mr. Benjamin, the Secretary of State, who made 
an appointment with me to meet him at his house at 
7 p. M. The public offices are handsome stone build- 
ings, and seem to be well arranged for business. I 
found at least as much difficulty in gaining access to 
the great men as there would be in European coun- 
tries ; but when once admitted, I was treated with 
the greatest courtesy. The anterooms were crowded 
with people patiently waiting for an audience. The 
streets of Richmond are named and numbered in a 
most puzzling manner, and the greater part of the 
houses are not numbered at all. It is the most hUly 



MR. BENJAMIN. 207 

city I have ever seen in America, and its population 
is unnaturally swollen since tlie commencement of 
the war. The fact of there being abundance of ice 
appeared to me an immense luxury, as I had never 
seen any before in the South ; but it seems that the 
winters are quite severe in l!Torthern Virginia. I 
was sorry to hear in the highest quarters the gloomiest 
forebodings with regard to the fate of Yicksburg. 
This fortress is in fact given up^ and all now despair 
of General Johnston's being able to effect any thing 
towards its relief. 

I kept my appointment with Mr. Benjamin at 7 
o'clock. He is a stout dapper little man, evidently of 
Hebrew extraction, and of undoubted talent. He is 
a Louisianian, and was senator for that State in the 
old United States Congress, and I believe he is ac- 
counted a very clever lawyer and a brilliant orator. 
He told me that he had filled the onerous post of Sec- 
retary of War during the first seven months of the 
Secession, and I can easily believe that he found it no 
sinecure. "We conversed for a long time about the 
origin of Secession, which he indignantly denied was 
brought about, as the Yankees assert, by the interest- 
ed machinations of individuals. He declared that, for 
the last ten years, the Southern statesmen had openly 
stated in Congress what would take place ; but the 
Northerners never would believe they were in earnest, 
and had often replied by the taunt, " The South was 



208 ME. BENJAMIN. 

SO bound to, and dependent on the Nortli, that sTie 
couldnH 1)6 Mcked out of the TJnionP 

He said that the Southern armies had always been 
immensely outnumbered in all their battles, and that 
until recently General Lee could never muster more 
than 60,000 effective men. He confessed that the 
Southern forces consisted altogether of about 350,000 
to 400,000 men ; and when I asked him where they 
all were, he replied that, on account of the enormous 
tract of country to be defended, and the immense ad- 
vantages the enemy possessed by his facilities for sea 
and river transportation, the South was obliged to 
keep large bodies of men unemployed, and at great 
distances from each other, awaiting the sudden inva- 
sions or raids to which they were continually exposed. 
Besides which, the ITorthern troops, which numbered 
(he supposed) 600,000 men, having had as yet but 
little defensive warfare, could all be employed for ag- 
gressive pm*poses. 

He asserted that England had still, and always had 
had it in her power to terminate the war by recog- 
nition, and by making a commercial treaty with the 
South ; and he denied that the Yankees really would 
dare to go to war with Great Britain for doing so, 
however much they might swagger about it : he said 
that recognition would not increase the Yankee hatred 
of England, for this, whether just or unjust, was al- 
ready as intense as it could possibly be. I then al- 



ME. BENJAMm. 209 

luded to tlie supposed ease with whicli they could 
overrun Canada, and to the temptation which its 
unprotected towns must offer to the large numbers of 
Irish and German mercenaries in the ]^orthern armies. 
He answered, " They probably could not do that so 
easily as some people suppose, and they know per- 
fectly well that you could deprive them of California (a 
far more serious loss) with much greater ease." This 
consideration, together with the certainty of an entire 
blockade of their ports, the total destruction of their 
trade, and an invasion on a large scale by the South- 
ern troops, in reality prevents the possibility of their 
declaring war upon England at the present time, any 
more than they did at the period of their great na- 
tional hmniliation in the Mason-Slidell affair. 

Mr. Benjamin told me that his property had lately 
been confiscated in I^Tew Orleans, and that his two 
sisters had been turned, neck and crop, into the streets 
there, with only one trunk, which they had been forced 
to carry themselves. Every one was afraid to give 
them shelter, except an Englishwoman, who protected 
them until they could get out of the city. 

Talking of the just admiration which the English 
newspapers accorded to Stonewall Jacl^on, he ex- 
pressed, however, his astonishment that they should 
have praised so highly his strategic skill in out- 
manoeuvring Pope at Manassas, and Hooker at Chan- 
cellorsville, totally ignoring that in both cases the 



210 ME, BENJAMIN. 

movements were planned and ordered by General 
Lee, for whom (Mr. Benjamin said) Jackson had the 
most " childlike reverence." 

Mr. Benjamin complained of Mr. Eiissell of the 
" Times" for holding him up to fame as a " gambler" 
— a story which he understood Mr. Enssell had learnt 
from Mr. Charles Sumner at Washington. But even 
supposing that this was really the case, Mr. Benjamin 
was of opinion tl^t such a revelation of his private 
life was in extremely bad taste, after Mr. Eussell had 
partaken of his (Mr. Benjamin's) hospitality at Mont- 
gomery. 

He said the Confederates were more amused than 
annoyed at the term " rebel," which was so constantly 
applied to them ; but he only T\dshed mildly to re- 
mark, that in order to be a " rebel," a person must 
rebel against some one who has a right to govern him ; 
and he thought it would be very difficult to discover 
such a right as existing in the ITorthern over the 
Southern States. 

In order to prepare a treaty of peace, he said, " It 
would only be necessary to write on a blank sheet of 
paper the words 'self-government.'' Let the Yan- 
kees accord that, and they might fill up the jDaper in 
any manner they chose. "We don't want any State 
that doesn't want us ; but we only wish that each 
State should decide fairly upon its own destmy. All 
we are struggling for is to be let alone." 



TflE PRESIDEKT. 211 

At 8 P. M. Mr. Benjamin walked witli me to tlie 
President's dwelling, which, is a private honse at tlie 
other end of the town. I had tea there, and nncom- 
monly good tea, too — the first I had tasted in the 
Confederacy. Mrs. Davis was unfortunately unwell 
and unable to see me. 

Mr. Jefferson Davis struck me as looking older 
than I expected. He is only fifty-six, but his face is 
emaciated, and much wrinkled. He is nearly six 
feet high, but is extremely thin, and stoops a little. 
His features are good, especially his eye, which is 
very bright, and full of life and humor. I was after- 
wards told he had lost the sight of his left eye from 
a recent illness. He wore a linen coat and gray 
trousers, and he loolied what he evidently is, a well- 
bred gentleman, l^othing can exceed the charm of 
his manner, which is sunple, easy, and most fascinat- 
ing. He conversed with me for a long time, and 
agreed with Benjamin that the Yankees did not 
really intend to go to war with England if she 
recognized the South; and he said that, when the 
inevitable smash came — and that separation was an 
accomplished fact — the State of Maine would prob- 
ably try to join Canada, as most of the intelligent 
people in that State have a horror of being " under 
the tliumh of Massachusetts P He added, that Maine 
was inhabited by a hardy, thrifty, seafaring popula- 
tion, with different ideas to the people in the other 



212 THE PEESIDENT. 

ISTew England States. Wlien I spoke to Mm of tlie 
wretched scenes I had witnessed in his own State 
(Mississippi), and of the miserable, ahnost desperate, 
situation in which I had found so many unfortunate 
women, who had been left behind by their male re- 
lations; and when I alluded in admiration to the 
quiet, calm, uncomplaining manner in which they bore 
their sufferings and their grief, he said, with much 
feeling, that he always considered silent desjoair the 
most pamful description of misery to witness, in the 
same way that he thought miote insanity was the 
most awfal form of madness. 

He spoke to me of Grenfell, who, he said, seemed 
to be serving the Confederacy in a disinterested and 
loyal manner. He had heard much of his gallantry 
and good services, and he was very sorry when I told 
him of Grenfell's quarrel with the civil power. 

He confirmed the truth of my remark, that a Con- 
federate general is either considered an Admirable 
Crichton by the soldiers, or else abused as every 
thing bad ; and he added, the misfortune was, that 
it is absolutely necessary, in order to insure success, 
that a general must obtain and preserve this popu- 
larity and influence with his men, who were, how- 
ever, generally very willing to accord their confidence 
to any officer deserving of it. 

With regard to the black-flag-and-no-quarter agita- 
tion, he said people would talk a great deal, and even 



THE PRESIDENT. 213 

go into action determined to give no quarter ; "but," 
lie added, " I have yet to hear of Confederate soldiers 
putting men to death who have thrown down their 
arms and held up their hands." 

He told me that Lord Russell confessed that the 
impartial carrying out of the neutrality laws had 
pressed hard upon the South ; and Mr. Da^as asserted 
that the pressure might have been equalized, and yet 
retained its impartiality, if Great Britain, instead of 
closing her ports, had opened them to the prizes of 
both parties ; but I answered that perhaps this might 
be over-doing it a little on the other side. 

When I took my leave about 9 o'clock, the Presi- 
dent asked me to call upon him again. I don't think 
it is possible for any one to have an interview with 
him without going away most favorably impressed by 
I his agreeable, unassuming manners, and by the charm 
of his conversation. While walking home, Mr. Ben- 
jamin told me that Mr. Davis's military instincts still 
predominate, and that his eager wish was to have 
joined the army instead of being elected President. 

During my travels, many people have remarked to 
me that Jefferson Davis seems in a peculiar manner 
adapted for his office. His military education at West 
Point rendered him intimately acquainted with the 
higher officers of the army ; and his post of Secretary 
of War under the old government brought officers of 
all raiiks under his immediate personal knowledge 



214 EECAPTUEE OF WINCHESTEE. 

and supervision. 'No man could liave formed a more 
accurate estimate of their respective merits. This is 
one of the reasons which gave the Confederates such 
an immense start in the way of generals ; for having 
formed his opinion with regard to appointing an 
officer, Mr. Davis is always most determined to carry 
out his intention in spite of every obstacle. His 
services in the Mexican war gave him the prestige 
of a brave man and a good soldier. His services as 
a statesman pointed him out as the only man who, 
by his unflinching determination and administrative 
talent, was able to control the popular will. People 
speak of any misfortune happening to him as an ir- 
reparable evil too dreadfal to contemplate. 

Before we reached the Spottswood Hotel, we met 

, to whom Mr. Benjamin introduced me. They 

discussed the great topic of the day — ^viz., the recap- 
ture of Winchester by General Ewell, the news ot 
which had just arrived, and they both expressed their 
regret that General Milroy shoidd have escaped. It 
appears that this Yankee commander, for his alleged 
crimes, had been put hors de la loi by the Confeder- 
ates in the same manner as General Butler. 

said to me, "We hope he may not be taken alive; 
but if he is, we will not shrink from the responsibility 
of putting him to death." 

18^A Jvm>e (Thursday). — At 10 a. m., I called by 



EICHMOND. 

appointment on Mr. Sedden, tlie Secretary at War. 
His anteroom was crowded with applicants for an 
interview, and I liad no slight difficulty in getting in. 
Mr. Sedden is a cadaverous but clever-looking man ; 
lie received me with great kindness, and immediately 
furnished me with letters of introduction for Generals 
Lee and Longstreet. 

My friend Major ISTorris then took me to the Presi- 
dent's office and introduced me to the aids-de-camp of 
the President — viz., Colonels "Wood, Lee, and Johns- 
ton. The two latter are sons to General Lee and 
General Albert Sidney Johnston, who was killed at 
Shiloh. 

Major ISTorris then took me to the capitol, and in- 
troduced me to Mr. Thompson the librarian, and to 
Mr. Meyers, who is nov/ supposed to look after Brit- 
ish interests since the abrupt departure of Mr. Moore, 
the consul. I was told that Mr. Moore had always 
been considered a good friend to the Southern cause, 
and had got into the mess which caused his removal 
entirely by his want of tact and discretion. There is 
a fine view from the top of the capitol ; the librarian 
told me that last year the fighting before Richmond 
could easily be seen from thence, and that many ladies 
used to go up for that purpose. Every one said, that 
notwithstanding the imminence of the danger, the 
population of Kichmond continued their daily avoca- 
tions, and that no alarm was felt as to the result. 



216 EICHMONB. 

Tlie interior of the capitoi is decorated with numer- 
ous flags ca]3tured from the enemy. They are very 
gorgeous, all silk and gold, and form a great contrast 
to the little bunting battle-flags of the Confederates. 
Among them I saw two colors which had belonged 
to the same regiment, the 37tli 'New York (I think). 
These were captured in different battles ; and on the 
last that was taken there is actually inscribed as a 
victory the word Fair-oaks^ which was the engage- 
ment in which the regiment had lost its first color. 

Mr. Butler King, a member of Congress, whose ac- 
quaintance I had made in the Spottswood Hotel, took 

me to spend the evening at Mrs. S 's, a charming 

widow, for whom I had brought a letter from her only 
son, aid-de-camp to General Magruder, in Texas. 

Mrs. S is clever and agreeable. She is a highly 

patriotic Southerner ; but she told me that she had 
stuck fast to the Union until Lincoln's proclamation 
calhng out Y5,000 men to coerce the South, which 
converted her and such a number of others into 
strong Secessionists. I spent a very pleasant even- 
ing with Mrs. S , who had been much in Eng- 
land, and had made a large acquaintance there. 

Mr. Butler King is a Georgian gentleman, also very 
agreeable and well informed. It is surprising to hear 
the extraordinary equanimity with which he and 
hundreds of fellow-sufferers talk of their entire ruin 
and the total destruction of their property. I know 



drewey's bluff 217 

many persons in England suppose that Great Britain 
has now made enemies both of the ISTorth and South ; 
bnt I do not believe this is the case with respect to 
the South, whatever certain Kichmond papers may 
say. The South looks to England for every thing 
when this war is over ; — she wants our merchants to 
buy her cotton, she wants our ships to carry it ; — she 
is willing that England should supply her with all 
the necessaries which she formerly received from the 
!N"orth. It is common to hear people declare they 
would rather pay twice the price for English goods 
than trade any more with Yankeedom. 

19th June (Friday). — I embarked at 10 a. m. on 
board a small steamer to visit Drewry's Bluff on the 
James Biver, the scene of the repulse of the iron- 
clads Monitor and Galena, The stream exactly op- 
posite Kichmond is very shallow and rocky, but it 
becomes navigable about a mile below the city. 
Drewry's Bluff is about eight miles distant, and, 
before reaching it, we had to pass through two 
bridges^ — one of boats, and the other a wooden 
bridge. I w^as shown over the fortifications by Cap- 
tain Chatard, Confederate States navy, who was in 
command during the absence of Captain Lee. A 
flotilla of Confederate gunboats was lying just above 
the obstructions, and nearly opposite to the bluff. 

Amongst them was the Yorktown, alias Patrick 

10 



218 EICHMOND. 

Henry, which, under the command of my friend 
Captain Tucker, figured in the memorable Merrimac 
attack. There was also an ironclad called the Eich- 
mond, and two or three smaller craft. Beyond 
Drewry's Bluff, on the opposite side of the river, is 

Chaffin's Bluff, which mounts heavy guns, and 

forms the extreme right of the Riclmiond defences on 
that side of the river. 

At the time of the attack by the two Federal iron- | 
clads, assisted by several wooden gunboats, there 
were only three guns mounted on Drewry's Bluff, 
which is from 80 to 90 feet high. These had been 
hastily removed from the Yorktown, and dragged up 
there by Captain Tucker on the previous day. They || 
were either smooth-bore 32-pounders or 8-inch guns, 
I forget which. During the contest the Monitor, 
notwithstanding her recent exploits with the Merri- 
mac, kept herself out of much danger, partly con- 
cealed behind the bend of the river ; but her consort, 
the ironclad Galena, approached boldly to^ within 
500 yards of the bluff. The wooden gunboats re- 
mained a considerable distance down the river. After 
the fight had lasted about four hours the Galena 
withdrew much crippled, and has never, I believe, 
been known to fame since. The result of the con- 
test goes to confirm the opinion expressed to me 
by General Beauregard — ^viz., that ironclads can- 
not resist the plunging fire of forts, even though 



RICHMOND. 219 

that latter can only boast of the old smooth-bore 
guns. 

A Captain Mamy took me on board the Hichmond . 
ironclad, in which vessel I saw a 7-inch treble-banded 
Brook gun, weighing, they told me, 21,000 lbs., and 
ca|)able of standing a charge of 25 lbs. of powder. 
Amongst my fellow-passengers fi'om Eichmond I had 
observed a very Hibernian-looking prisoner in charge 
of one soldier. Captain Maury informed me th at this 
individual was being taken to Chaffin's Bluff, where 
he is to be shot at 12 noon to-morrow for desertion. 

Major !N'orris and I bathed in James River at 1 p. m. 
from a rocky and very pretty island in the centre of 
the stream. 

I spent another very agreeable evening at Mrs. 

S 's, and met General Randolph, Mr. Butler 

King, and Mr. Conrad there ; also Colonel Johnston, 
aid-de-camp to the President, who told me that they 
had been forced, in order to stop Burnside's executions 
in Kentucky, to select two Federal captains, and put 
them under orders for death. General Randolph 
looks in weak health. He had for some time filled 
the post of Secretary of War ; but it is supposed that 
he and the President did not quite hit it off together. 
Mr. Conrad as well as Mr. King is a member of Con- 
gress, and he explained to me that, at the beginning 
of the war, each State was most desirous of being ]3ut 
(without the slightest necessity) under military law, 



220 EN EOTJTE FOE LEE's AEMY. 

wliicli they tliouglit was quite the correct remedy for 
all evil ; but so sick did they soon become of this 
regime that at the last session Congress had refused 
the President the power of piitting any place imder 
mihtary law, which is just as absurd in the other 
direction. 

I hear every one complaining dreadfully of General 
Johnston's inactivity in Mississippi, and all now de- 
spair of saving Yicksburg. They deplore its loss, 
more on account of the effects its conquest may have 
in prolonging the war, than for any other reason. 
]^o one seems to fear that its possession, together 
with Port Hudson, will really enable the Yankees to 
navigate the Mississippi ; nor do they fear that the 
latter will be able to j)i'event communication with 
the trans-Mississippi country. 

Many of the Eichmond papers seem to me scarcely 
more respectable than the iN'ew York ones. Party 
spirit runs high. Liberty of the press is carried to 
its fullest extent. 

^OtJi June (Saturday). — ^Armed with letters of in- 
troduction from the Secretary at "War for Generals 
Lee and Longstreet, I left Eichmond at 6 a. m., to 
join the Yirginian army. I was accompanied by a 
sergeant of the Signal Corps, sent by my kind friend 
Major E'orris, for the pm^pose of assisting me in get- 
ting on. We took the tram as far as Culpepper, and 



CULPEPPEE. 221 

arrived there at 5.30 p. m., after having changed cars 
at Gordonsville, near which place I observed an 
enormous pile of excellent rifles rotting in the open 
air. These had been captured at Chancellorsville ; 
bnt the Confederates have already such a super- 
abundant stock of rifles that apparently they can 
afibrd to let them spoil. The weather was quite 
cool after the rain of last night. The country 
through which we passed had been in the enemy's 
hands last year, and was evacuated by them after 
the battles before Eichmond; but at that time it 
was not their custom to burn, destroy, and devastate 
— every thing looked green and beautiful, and did 
not in the least give one the idea of a hot country. 

In his late daring raid, the Federal General Stone- 
man crossed this railroad, and destroyed a small por- 
tion of it, burned a few buildings, and penetrated to 
within three miles of Eichmond; but he and l^is 
men were in such a hurry that they had not time tp 
do much serious harm. 

Culpepper was, until five days ago, the head- 
quarters of Generals Lee and Longstreet ; but since 
Ewell's recapture of Winchester, the whole army had 
advanced with rapidity, and it was my object to 
catch it up as quickly as possible. On arriving at 
Culpepper, my sergeant handed me over to another 
myrmidon of Major Norris, with orders from that of- 
ficer to supply me with a horse, and take me himself 



222 STATE OF InOETHEEN VIEGINIA. 

to join Mr. Lawlej, wlio had passed tlirougli for the 
same purpose as myself three days before. 

Sergeant Norris, my new chaperon, is consin to 
Ma,ior ISTorris, and is a capital fellow. Before the war 
he was a gentleman of good means in Maryland, and 
was accustomed to a life of luxury ; he now lives the 
life of a private soldier with perfect contentment, and 
is utterly indifferent to civilization and comfort. Al- 
though he was unwell when I arrived, and it was 
pouring with rain, he proposed that we should start 
at once — 6 p. m. I agreed, and we did so. Our 
horses had both sore backs, were both unfed, except 
on grass, and mine was deficient of a shoe. They 
nevertheless travelled well, and we reached a hamlet 
called "Woodville, fifteen miles distant, at 9.30. We 
had great difficulty in procuring shelter; but at 
length we overcame the inhospitality of a native, who 
gave us a feed of corn for our horses, and a blanket 
on the floor for ourselves. 

21st June (Sunday). — ^We got the horse shod with 
some delay, and after refreshing the animals with 
corn and ourselves with bacon, we effected a start at 
8.15 A. M. "We experienced considerable difficulty 
in carrying wcj small saddle-bags and knapsack, on 
account of the state of our horses' backs. Mine was 
not very bad, but that of l^orris was in a horrid state, 
"^^e had not travelled more than a few miles when 



THE sb:enaot)oah valley. ^ 223 



• 



tlie latter animal cast a shoe, which, took us an hour 
to replace at a village called Sperryville. The coun- 
try is really magnificent, but as it has supported two 
large armies for two years, it is now completely 
cleaned out. It is almost uncultivated, and no ani- 
mals are grazing where there used to be hundreds. 
All fences have been destroyed, and numberless 
farms burnt, the chimneys alone left standing. It is 
difficult to depict and impossible to exaggerate the 
sufferings which this part of Virginia has undergone. 
But the ravages of war have not been able to destroy 
the beauties of nature — the verdure is charming, the 
trees magnificent, the country undulating, and the 
Blue Ridge mountains form the background. 

Being Sunday, we met about thirty negroes going 
to church, wonderfully smartly dressed, some (both 
male and female) riding on horseback, and others in 
wagons ; but Mr. ll^orris informs me that two years 
ago we should have numbered them by hundreds. 
We soon began to catch up the sick and broken-down 
men of the army, but not in great numbers ; most of 
them were well shod, though I saw two without 
shoes. 

After crossing a gap in the Blue Eidge range, we 
reached Front Royal at 5 p. m., and we were now in 
the well-known Shenandoah Yalley — the scene of 
Jackson's celebrated campaigns. Front Royal is a 
pretty little place, and was the theatre of one of the 



224 EIDE THROUGH VIEGINIA. 

• 

earliest figlits in the war, wliich was commenced by 
a Maryland regiment of Confederates, wlio, as Mr. 
JSTorris observed, "jmnped on to" a Federal regiment 
from the same State, and " whipped it badly." Since 
that tune the village has changed hands continually, 
and was visited by the Federals only a few days pre- 
vious to Ewell's rapid advance ten days ago. 

After immense trouble we procured a feed of corn 
for the horses, and, to Mr. ISTorris's astonishment, I 
was impudent enough to get food for ourselves by 
appealing to the kind feelings of two good-looking 
female citizens of Front Eoyal, who, during our sup- 
per, entertained us by stories of the manner they 
annoyed the Northern soldiers by disagreeable allu- 
sions to " Stonewall" Jackson. 

We started again at 6.30, and crossed two branches 
of the Shenandoah river, a broad and rapid stream. 
Both the railway and carriage bridges having been 
destroyed, we had to ford it ; and as the water was 
deep, we were only just able to accomplish the pas- 
sage. The soldiers, of whom there were a number 
with us, took off their trousers, and held their rifles 
and ammunition above thek heads. Soon afterwards 
our horses became very leg-weary ; for although the 
weather had been cool, the roads were muddy and 
hard upon them.-s At 8.30 we came up with Pen- 
der's division encamped on the sides of Kills, illu- 
minated with innumerable camp-fires, which looked 



PENDEU'b DIVISIOl^-. 225 

very picturesque. After passing tlirougli about two 
miles of bivouacs, we begged for shelter in tlie hay- 
loft of a Mr. Mason: we tui'ned our horses into a 
field, and found our hayloft most luxurious after 
forty-sis miles' ride at a foot's pace. 

Stonewall Jackson is considered a regular demigod 
in this country. 

22t^ June (Monday).— We started without food or 
corn at 6.30 A. m., and soon became entangled with 
Pender's division on its line of march, which delayed 
us a good deal. My poor brute of a horse also took 
this opportunity of throwing two more shoes, which 
we found it impossible to replace, all the blacksmiths' 
shops having been pressed by the troops. 

The soldiers of this division are a remarkably fine 
body of men, and look quite seasoned and ready for 
any work. Their clothing is serviceable, so also are 
their boots ; but there is the usual utter absence of 
uniformity as to color and shape of their garments 
I and hats: gray of all shades, and brown clothing, 
with felt hats, predominate. The Confederate troops 
are now entirely armed with excellent rifles, mostly 
Enfields. "When they first turned out they were in 
the habit of wearing numerous revolvers and bowie- 
knives. General Lee is said to have mildly remark- 
ed : " Grentlemen, I think you will find an Enfield 

j rifle, a bayonet, and sixty romids of ammunition, as 

10* 



226 fender's division. 

muclL as yon can conveniently carry in the way of 
arms." Tliey laughed, and thonght they knew bet- 
ter ; but the six-shooters and bowie-knives gradually 
disappeared ; and now none are to be seen among 
the infantry. 

The artillery horses are in poor condition, and only 
get 3 lb. of corn* a-day. The artillery is of all kinds 
— Parrots, ISTapoleons, rifled and smooth bores, all 
shapes and sizes ; most of them bear the letters U. S., 
showing that they have changed masters. 

The colors of the regiments differ from the blue 
battle-flags I saw with Bragg's army. They are gen- 
erally red, with a blue St. Andi-ew's Cross showing 
the stars. This pattern is said to have been invented 
by General Joseph Johnston, as not so liable to be 
mistaken for the Yankee flas;. The new Confederate 
flag has evidently been adopted from this battle-flag, 
as it is called. Most of the colors in this division 
bear the names Manassas, Fredericksburg, Seven 
Pines, Hai'per's Ferry, Chancellorsville, &c. 

I saw no stragglers dm-ing the time I was with 
Pender's division; but although the Virginian army 
certainly does get over a deal of ground, yet they 
move at a slow dragging pace, and are evidently not 
good marchers naturally. As Mr. Norris observed to 
me, " Before this war we were a lazy set of devils ; 

* Indian corn. 



GEKEEAL LEe's IIEADQUAETERS. 227 

our niggers worked for us, and none of us ever dreamt 
of walking, though we all rode a great deal." 

We reached Berr jville (eleven miles) at 9 a. m. 
The headquarters of General Lee were a few hundred 
yards beyond this place. Just before getting there, 
I saw a general officer of handsome appearance, who 
must, I knew from description, be the Commander-in- 
chief; but as he was evidently engaged I did not join 
him, although I gave my letter of introduction to one 
of his Staff. Shortly afterwards, I presented myself 
to Mr. Lawley, with whom I became immediately 
great friends."^ He introduced me to General Chilton, 
the Adjutant-general of the army, to Colonel Cole, 
the Quartermaster-general, to Major Taylor, Captain 
Yenables, and other officers of General Lee's Staff; 
and he suggested, as the headquarters were so busy 
and crowded, that he and I should ride to "Winches- 
ter at once, and afterwards ask for hospitahty from 
the less busy Staff of General Longstreet. I was also 
introduced to Captain Schreibert, of the Prussian 
army, who is a guest sometimes of General Lee and 
sometimes of General Stuart of the cavalry. He had 
been present at one of the late severe cavalry skir- 
mishes, which have been of constant occurrence since 
the sudden advance of this army. This advance has 

* Tlie Honorable F. Lawley, author of the admirable letters 
from tlie Soutbern States, wbich appeared in the "Times" news- 
paper. 



228 WINCHESTEE. 

been so admirably timed as to allow of the capture of 
Wincbester, witb its Yankee garrison and stores, and 
at tbe same time of tbe seizm-e of tbe gaps of tlie 
Blue Ridge range. All tbe officers were speaking 
witb regret of tbe severe wound received in tbis sku*- 
misb by Major Yon Eorke, anotber Prussian, but 
now in tbe Confederate States service, and aid-de- 
camp to Jeb Stuart. 

After eating some breakfast, Lawley and I rode 
ten miles into "Wincbester. My borse, mmus bis fore- 
sboes, sbowed signs of great fatigue, but we struggled 
into Wincbester at 5 p. m., wbere I was fortunate 
enougb to procure sboes for tbe borse, and, by Law- 
ley's introduction, admirable quarters for botb of us at 
tbe bouse of tbe bospitable Mrs. ^\ , witb wbom be 
bad lodged seven montbs before, and wbo was cbarmed 
to see bim. Her two nieces, wbo are as agreeable as 
tbey are good-looking, gave us a miserable pictm-e of 
tbe tbree captivities tbey bave experienced under 
tbe Federal commanders, Banks, Sbields, and Milroy. 

Tbe unfortunate town of Wincbester seems to bave 
been made a regular sbuttlecock of by tbe contending 
armies. Stonewall Jackson rescued it once, and last 
Sunday week bis successor. General Ewell, drove out 
Milroy. Tbe name of Milroy is always associated 
witb tbat of Butler, and bis rule in Wincbester seems 
to bave been somewbat similar to tbat of bis illustrious 
rival in ITew Orleans. Sbould eitber of tbese two in- 



WINCHESTEE. 229 

dividiials fall alive into the hands of the Confederates, 
I imagine that Jeff Davis himself would be unable to 
save their lives, even if he were disposed to do so. 

Before leavmg Richmond, I heard every one ex- 
pressing regret that Milroy should have escaped, as 
the recapture of Winchester seemed to be incomplete 
without him. More than 4,000 of his men were taken 
in the two forts which overlook the town, and which 
were carried by lassault by a Louisianian brigade with 
trifling loss. The joy of the unfortunate inhabitants 
may easily be conceived at this sudden and unexpect- 
ed relief from their last captivity, which had lasted 
six months. During the whole of this time they could 
not legally buy an article of provisions without taking 
the oath of allegiance, which they magnanimously 
refused to do. They were unable to hear a word of 
theu^ male relations or friends, who were all in the 
Southern army ; they were shut up in their houses 
after 8 p. m., and sometimes deprived of light ; part 
of our kind entertainer's house was forcibly occupied 
by a vulgar, ignorant, and low-born Federal officer, 
ci-devant driver of a street car ; and they were con- 
stantly subjected to the most humiliating insults, on 
pretence of searching the house for arms, documents, 
&c. To my surprise, however, these ladies spoke of 
the enemy with less violence and rancor than almost 
any other ladies I had met with during my travels 
through the whole Southern Confederacy. "When I 



230 ME. mason's house. 

told them so, they reiDlied that they who had seen 
many men shot down in the streets before their own 
eyes knew what they were talking ahont, which other 
and more excited Southern women did not. 

Ewell's division is in front and across the Poto- 
mac ; and before I left headquarters this morning, I 
saw Longstreet's corps beginning to follow in the 
same direction. 

2Sd June (Tuesday). — Lawley and I went to inspect 
the site of Mr. Mason's (the Southern Commissioner 
in London) once pretty house — a melancholy scene. 
It had been charmingly situated near the outskii-ts of 
the town, and by all accounts must have been a de- 
lightful little place. When Lawley saw it seven 
months ago, it was then only a ruin ; but since that 
time JSTorthern vengeance (as du'ected by General 
Milroy) has satiated itself by destroying almost the 
very foundations of the house of this arch-traitor, as 
they call him. Literally not one stone remains stand- 
ing upon another ; and the debris seems to have been 
carted away, for there is now a big hole where the 
principal part of the house stood. Troops have evi- 
dently been encamped upon the ground, which was 
strewed with fragments of Yankee clothing, accou- 
trements, &c. 

I understand that "Winchester used to be a most 
agreeable little town, and its society extremely pleas- 



WIKCHESTEE. 231 

ant. Many of its houses are now destroyed or con- 
verted into hospitals; the rest look miserable and 
dilapidated. Its female inhabitants (for the able- 
bodied males are all absent in the army) are familiar 
with' the bloody realities of war. As many as 5,000 
wonnded have been accommodated here at one time. 
All the ladies are accustomed to the bursting of shells 
and the sight of fighting, and all are turned into hos- 
pital nurses or cooks. 

From the utter impossibility of procuring corn, I 
was forced to take the horses out grazing a mile be- 
yond the town for four hours in the morning and two 
in the afternoon. As one mustn't lose sight of them 
for a moment, this occupied me all d^y, while Lawley 
wrote in the house. In the evening we went to visit 
two wounded officers in Mrs. ^^^ 's house, a major and 
a captain in the Louisianian brigade which stormed 
the forts last Sunday week. I am afraid the captain 
will die. Both are shot through the body, but are 
cheery. They served under Stonewall Jackson until 
his death, and they venerate his name, though they 
both agree that he has got an efficient successor in 
Ewell, his former companion in arms ; and they con- 
firmed a great deal of what General Johnston had 
told me as to Jackson having been so much indebted 
to Ewell for several of his victories. They gave us an 
animated account of the spirits and feeling of the 
army. At no period of the war, they say, have the 



232 "ieish" southeeners, 

men been so well eqiiipj)ed, so well clothed, so eager 
for a fight, or so confident of success — a very difier- 
ent state of afiiiirs from that which characterized the 
Maryland invasion of last year, when half of the 
army were barefooted stragglers, and many of the re- 
mainder unwilling and reluctant to cross the Potomac. 
Miss told me to-day that dancing and horse- 
racing are forbidden by the Episcopal Church m this 
part of Virginia. 

'^UJi June (Wednesday). — Lawley being in weak 
health, we determined to spend another day with our 
kind friends in Winchester. I took the horses out 
again for six hours to graze, and made acquaintance 
with two Irishmen, who gave me some cut grass and 
salt for the horses. One of these men had served and 
had been wounded in the Southern a^rmy. I remark- 
ed to him that he must have killed lots of his own 
countrymen ; to which he replied, " Oh yes, but faix 
they must all take it as it comes." I have always 
observed that Southern Irishmen make excellent 
"Rebs," and have no sort of scruple in killing as 
many of their JSTorthern brethren as they possi- 
bly can. 

I saw to-day many new Yankee graves, which the 
deaths among the captives are constantly increasing. 
Wooden head-posts are put at each grave, on which 
is wi'itten, " An Unknown Soldier, U. S. A. Died of 



EDDE TO THE POTOMAC. 233 

wounds received upon the field of battle, June 21, 22, 
or 23, 1863." 

A sentry stopped me to-day as I was going out of 
town, and when I showed hini my pass from General 
Cliilton, he replied with great firmness, but with per- 
fect courtesy, " I'm extremely sorry, sir ; but if you 
were the Secretary of War, or Jeff Davis himself, you 
couldn't pass without a passport from the Provost- 
marshal." 

'^'^tliJune (Thm-sday). — "We took leave of Mrs. 

and her hospitable family, and started at 10 a. m. to 
overtake Generals Lee and Longstreet, who were 
supposed to be crossing the Potomac at Williamsport. 
Before we had got more than a few miles on our way, 
we began to meet horses and oxen, the first fruits of 
Ewell's advance into Pennsylvania. The weather 
was cool and showery, and all went swimmingly for 
the first fourteen miles, when we caught up M'Laws's 
division, which belongs to Longstreet's corps. As 
my horse about this time began to show signs of 
fatigue, and as Lawley's pickaxed most alarmingly, 
we turned them into some clover to graze, whilst we 
watched two brigades pass along the road. They were 

commanded, I think, by Semmes and Barksdale,* and 

» 

■"" Barksdale was killed, and Semmes mortally wounded, at the 
battle of Gettysburg, 



234 EIDE TO THE POTOMAC. 

were composed of Georgians, Mississi|)pians, and 
South Carolinians. They marched very well, and 
there was no attempt at straggling ; quite a different 
state of things from Johnston's men in Mississippi. 
All were well shod and efficiently clothed. In rear 
of each regiment were from twenty to thirty negro 
slaves, and a certain number of unarmed men carry- 
ing stretchers and wearing in their hats the red 
badges of the ambulance corps ; — this is an excellent 
institution, for it prevents unwounded men falling 
out on pretence of taking wounded to the rear. The 
knapsacks of the men still bear the names of the 
Massachusetts, Vermont, ISTew Jersey, or other regi- 
ments to which they originally belonged. There 
were about twenty wagons to each brigade, most of 
which were marked U. S., and each of these brigades 
was about 2,800 strong. There are four brigades 
in M'Laws's division. All the men seem in the 
highest spirits, and were cheering and yelling most 
vociferously. 

"We reached Martinsburg (twenty-two miles) at 6 
p. M., by which time my horse nearly broke down, and 
I was forced to get off and walk. Martinsburg and 
this part of Yirginia are supposed to be more Unionist 
than Southern ; however, many of the women went 
through the form of cheering M'Laws's division as it 
passed. I dare say they would perform the same 
ceremony in honor of the Yankees to-morrow. 



RIDE TO THE POTOMAC. 235 

Three miles beyond Martinsburg we were forced 
bj tbe state of onr liorses to insist upon receiving the 
unwilling hospitality of a very surly native, who was 
evidently Unionist in his proclivities. We were ob- 
liged to turn our horses into a field to graze during 
the night. This was most dangerous, for the Con- 
federate soldier, in spite of his many vu-tues, is, as a 
i-ule, the most incorrigible horse-stealer in the world. 

26^A June (Friday).— I got up a little before day- 
light, and, notwithstanding the drenching rain, I 
secured our horses, which, to my intense relief, were 
present. But my horse showed a back rapidly getting 
worse, and both looked " mean" to a degree. Lav/- 
ley being ill, he declined starting in the rain, and our 
host became more and more surly when we stated 
our intention of remaining with him. However, the 
sight of real gold instead of Confederate paper, or 
even greenbacks, soothed him wonderfully, and he 
furnished us with some breakfast. All this time 
M'Laws's division was passing the door ; but so strict 
was the discipline, that the only man who loafed in 
was immediately pounced upon and carried away 
captive. At 2 p. m., the weather having become a 
little clearer, we made a start, but under very un- 
promising circumstances. Lawley was so ill that he 
could hardly ride ; his horse was most unsafe, and 
had cast a shoe ; — ^my animal was in such a miserable 



236 HAGEESTOWN. 

state that I had not the inhumamty to ride him ;— • 
but, bj the assistance of his tail, I managed to strug- 
gle through the deep mud and wet. 

We soon became entangled with M^Laws's division, 
and reached the Potomac, a distance of nine miles 
and a half, at 5 p. m. ; the river is both wide and 
deep, and in fording it (for which purpose I was 
obliged to mount) we couldn't keep our legs out of 
the water. The little town of Williamsport is on the 
opposite bank of the river, and we were now in Mary- 
land. We had the mortification to learn that Gen- 
erals Lee and Longstreet had quitted Williamsport 
this morning at 11 o'clock, and were therefore | 
obliged to toil on to Hagerstown, six miles fmlher. 
This latter place is evidently by no means rebel in 
its sentiments, for all the houses were shut up, and 
many apparently abandoned. The few natives that 
were about stared at the troops with sulky indif- 
ference. 

After passing through Hagerstown, we could ob- 
tain no certain information of the whereabouts of the 
two generals, nor could we get any willing hosj)ital- 
ity from any one ; but at 9 p. m., our horses being 
quite exhausted, we forced ourselves into the house of 
a Dutchman, who became a little more civil at the 
sight of gold, although the assiu-ance that we were 
English travellers, and not rebels, had produced no 
effect. I had walked to-day, in mud and rain, seven- 



LIEUTENANT-GENEEAL LONGSTEEET. 237 

teen miles, and I dared not take qff m.y solitary pair 
of boots, because I knew I should never get them on 
again. 

27th June (Saturday). — Lawley was so ill this 
morning that he couldn't possibly ride. I therefore 
mounted his horse a little before daybreak, and 
started in search of the generals. After riding eight 
miles, I came up with General Longstreet, at 6.30 
A. M., and was only just in time, as he was on the 
point of moving. Both he and his Staff were most 
kind, when I introduced myself and stated my diffi- 
culties. He arranged that an ambulance should 
fetch Lawley, and he immediately invited me to join 
his mess during the campaign. He told me (which 
I did not know) that we were now in Pennsylvania, 
the enemy's country — ^Maryland being only ten miles 
broad at this point. He declared that bushwhackers 
exist in the woods, who shoot unsuspecting stragglers, 
and it would therefore be unsafe that Lawley and I 
should travel alone. General Longstreet is an Ala- 
bamian — a thickset, determined-looking man, forty- 
three years of age. He was an infantry Major in 
j the old army, and now commands the 1st corjps cPa/p- 
mee. He is never far from General Lee, who relies 
very much upon his judgment. By the soldiers he 
is invariably spoken of as "the best fighter in the 
whole army." Whilst speaking of entering upon 



238 "eebels" enter pennsylvakia. 

tlie enemy's soil, lie said to me, tliat altliougli it 
might be fair, in jnst retaliation, to a^jply the torch^ 
yet that doing so would demoralize the army and 
rnin its now excellent discipline. Private property 
is to be therefore rigidly protected. 

At 7 A. M. I returned with an orderly (or courier, 
as they are called) to the farm-honse in which I had 
left Lawley; and after seeing all arranged satisfac- 
torily about the ambulance, I rode slowly on to rejoin 
General Longstreet, near Chambersburg, which is a 
Pennsylvanian town, distant twenty-two miles from 
Hagerstown. I was with M'Laws's division, and 
observed that the moment they entered Pennsylvania, 
the troops opened the fences and enlarged the road 
about twenty yards on each side, which enabled the 
wagons and themselves to proceed together. This is 
the only damage I saw done by the Confederates. 
This part of Pennsylvania is very flourishing, highly 
cultivated, and, in comparison with the Southern 
States, thickly peopled. But all the cattle and horses 
having been seized by Ewell, farm-labor had now 
come to a complete standstill. 

In passing through Greencastle we found all the 
houses and windows shut up, the natives in theu^ Sun- 
day clothes standing at their doors regarding the 
troops in a very unfriendly manner. I saw no strag- 
gling into the houses, nor were any of the inhabitants 
disturbed or annoyed by the soldiers. Sentries were 



CHAM.BEESBTJEG nOOD's TEXAIsTS. 239 

placed at tlie doors of many of the best houses, to 
prevent any officer or soldier from getting in on any 
pretence. 

I entered Chambershiirg at 6 p. m. This is a town 
of some size and importance. All its honses were 
shnt up ; but the natives were in the streets, or at the 
upper windows, looking in a scowling and bewildered 
manner at the Confederate troops, who were march- 
ing gayly past to the tune of Dixie's Land. The 
women (many of whom were pretty and well dressed) 
were particularly sour and disagreeable in their re- 
marks. I heard one of them say, " Look at Pharaoh's 
army going to the Hed Sea." Others were pointing 
and laughing at Hood's ragged Jacks, who were 
passing at the time. This division, well known for 
its fighting qualities, is composed of Texans, Ala- 
bamians, and Arkansians, and they certainly are a 
queer lot to look at. They carry less than any other 
troops ; many of them have only got an old piece of 
carpet or rug as baggage ; many have discarded their 
shoes in the mud ; all are ragged and dirty, but full 
of good-humor and confidence in themselves and in 
their general. Hood. They answered the nmnerous 
taunts of the Chambersburg ladies with cheers and 
laughter. One female had seen fit to adorn her 
ample bosom with a huge Yankee flag, and she stood 
at the door of her house, her countenance expressing 
the greatest contempt for the barefooted Eebs ; several 



240 GENERAL LONGSTEEEt's STAFF. 

comi:)anies passed lier without taking any notice ; but 
at length a Texan gravely remarked, " Take care, 
madam, for Hood's boys are great at storming breast- 
works when the Yankee colors is on them." After 
thi;5 speech the patriotic lady beat a precipitate 
retreat. 

Sentries were placed at the doors of all the princi- 
pal houses, and the town was cleared of all but the 
military passing through or on duty. Some of the 
troops marched straight through the town, and biv- 
ouacked on the Carlisle road. Others turned off to 
the right, and occupied the Gettysburg tm^npike. I 
found Generals Lee and Longstreet encamj)ed on the 
latter road, three-quarters of a mile from the town. 

General Longstreet and his Staff at once received 
me into their mess, and I was introduced to Major 
Fairfax, Major Latrobe, and Captain Rogers of his 
personal Staff; also to Major Moses, the Chief Com- 
missary, whose tent I am to share. He is the most 
jovial, amusing, clever son of Israel I ever had the 
good fortune to meet. The other officers of Long- 
street's Headquarter Staff are Colonel Sorrell, Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Manning (ordnance officer). Major 
Walton, Captain Goree, and Major Clark, all excel- 
lent good fellows, and most hospitable.* 

* Having lived at tlie headquarters of all the principal Confed- 
erate Generals, I am able to affirm that the relation between their 
Staffs and themselves, and the way the duty is carried on, is very 



AT GENEEAL LONGSTREEt's HEADQUAETEES. 241 

Lawley is to live with three doctors on the Head- 
quarter Staff: their names are Ciillen, Barksdale, 
and Manry; they form a jolly trio, and live much 
more luxm-ionsly than their generals. 

Major Moses tells me that his orders are to open 
the stores in Chamhersburg by force, and seize all 
that is wanted for the army in a regular and official 
manner, giving in return its value in Confederate 
money on a receipt. The storekeepers have doubt- 
less sent away their most valuable goods on tlie ap- 
proach of the Confederate army. Much also has 
been already seized by Ewell, who passed through 
nearly a week ago. But Moses was much- elated at 
having already discovered a large supply of excellent 
felt hats, hidden away in a cellar, which he "an- 
nexed" at once. 

I was told this evening the numbers which have 
crossed the Potomac, and also the number of pieces 
of artillery. There is a large train of ammunition ; 
for if the army advances any deeper into the enemy's 
country, General Lee cannot expect to keep his com- 
munications open to the rear ; and as the Staff offi- 
cers say, " In every battle we fight we must capture 

similar to wliat it is in the British army. All the Generals- 
Johnston, Eragg, Polii, Hardee, Longstreet, and Lee — are thorough 
soldiers, and their Staffs are composed of gentlemen of position 
and education, who have now been trained into excellent and 

i zealous Staff officers. 

11 



24:2 MAJOE-GENERAL HOOD. 

as mucli ammunition as we use." Tids necessity, 
however, does not seem to disturb them, as it has 
hitherto been their regular style of doing business. 

E"\^ell, after the capture of Winchester, had ad- 
vanced rapidly into Pennsylvania, and has already 
sent back great quantities of horses, mules, wagons, 
beeves, and other necessaries ; he is now at or beyond 
Carlisle, laying the country under contribution, and 
making Pennsylvania support the war, instead of 
poor, used-up, and worn-out Yirginia. The corps of 
Generals A. P. Hill and Longstreet are now near 
this place, all full of confidence and in high spirits. 

28^A June (Sunday). — 'B.o officer or soldier under 
the rank of a general is allowed into Chambersbm^g 
without a special order from General Lee, which he 
is very chary of giving ; and I hear of officers of rank 
being refused this pass. 

Moses proceeded into town at 11 a. m., with an 
official requisition for three days' rations for the 
whole army in this neighborhood. These rations he 
is to seize by force, if not voluntarily supplied. 

I was introduced to General Hood this momino- ; 
he is a tall, thin, wiry-looking man, with a grave face 
and a light-colored beard, thirty-three years old, and 
is accounted one of the best and most promising offi- 
cers in the army. By his Texan and Alabamian 
troops he is adored; he formerly commanded the 



THE "rebels ' IN CHAMBEESBTJEG. 243 

Texan brigade, but bas now been promoted to the 
command of a division. His troops are accused of 
being a wild set, and difficidt to manage ; and it is 
the great object of the chiefs to check their innate 
plunderii]g propensities by every means in theii' 
power. 

I went into Chambersburg at noon, and found 
Lawley ensconced in the Franklin Hotel. Both he 
and I had much difficulty in getting into that estab- 
lishment — the doors being locked, and only opened 
with the greatest caution. Lawley had had a most 
painful journey in the ambulance yesterday, and was 
much exhausted, l^o one in the hotel would take 
the slightest notice of him, and all scowled at me in 
a most disagreeable manner. Half-a-dozen Pennsyl- 
vanian viragos surrounded and assailed me with their 
united tongues to a deafening degree. JSTor would 
they believe me when I told them I was an English 
spectator and a non-combatant : they said I must be 
either a Kebel or a Yankee — ^by which expression I 
learned for the first time that the term Yankee is as 
much used as a reproach in Pennsylvania as in the 
South. The sight of gold, which I exchanged for 
their greenbacks, brought about a change, and by de- 
grees they became quite affable. They seemed very 
io-norant, adS. confused Texans with Mexicans. 

After leaving Lawley pretty comfortable, I walked 
about the town and witnessed the pressing operations 



244 MAJOR MOSES Am) THE LADIES. 

of Moses and liis myi-midons. ISTeitlier tlie Mayor 
1101* the corporation were to be fonnd anywliere, nor 
were tlie l-ievs of the principal stores forthcoming 
mitil Moses began to apply the axe. The citizens 
were lolling about the streets in a listless mannerj 
and showing no great signs of discontent. They had 
left to their women the task of resisting the commis- 
saries — a duty which they were fully competent to 
perform. 'No soldiers but those on duty were visible 
in the streets. 

In the evening I called again to see Lawley, and 
found in his room an Austrian officer, in 'the full uni- 
form of the Hungarian hussars. He had got a year's 
leave of absence, and has jus.t succeeded in crossing 
the Potomac, though not without much trouble and 
difficulty. "When he stated his intention of wearing 
his uniform, I explained to him the invariable custom 
of the Confederate soldiers, of never allowing the 
smallest peculiarity of dress or appearance to pass 
v/ithout a torrent of jokes, which, however good- 
humored, ended in becoming rather monotonous. 

I returned to camp at 6 p. m. Major Moses did 
not get back till very late, much depressed at the ill- 
success of his mission. He had searched all day 
most indefatigably, and had endured much contumely 
from the Union ladies, who called him " a thievish 
little rebel scoundrel," and other opprobrious epithets. 
But this did not annoy him so much as the manner 



GOOD BEHAVIOR OF THE COKTEDEEATES. 24:5 

in which every tiling he wanted had been sent away 
or hidden in private houses, which he was not allow- 
ed by General Lee's order to search. He had only 
managed to secure a quantity of molasses, sugar, and 
whiskey. Poor Moses was thoroughly exhausted ; 
but he endured the chaff of his brother officers with 
much good-humor, and they made him continually 
repeat the different names he had been called. lie 
said that at first the women refused his Confederate 
" trash" with great scorn, but they ended in being 
very particular about the odd cents. 

29^/i June (Monday). — We are still at Chambers- 
burg. Lee has issued a remarkably good order on 
non-retaliation, which is generally well received; but 
I have heard of complaints from fire-eaters, who want 
vengeance for their wrongs ; and when one considers 
the numbers of officers and soldiers with this army 
who have been totally ruined by the devastations of 
]^orthern troops, one cannot be much surprised at 
this feeling. 

I went into Chambersburg again, and witnessed 
the singular good behavior of the troops towards the 
citizens. I heard soldiers saying to one another, that 
they did not like being in a town in which they were 
very naturally detested. To any one who has seen 
as I have the ravages of the ^Northern troops in 
Southern towns, this forbearance seems most com- 



246 AT GENEEAL LONGSTBEEt's HEADQTJAETEES. 

mendable and surprising. Yet these Pennsylvanian 
Dutcli* don't seem the least thankful, and really ap- 
pear to be unaware that their own troops have been 
for two years treating Southern towns with ten times 
more harshness. They are the most iinpatriotiG 
people I ever saw, and openly state that they don'fc 
care which side wins, provided they are left alone. 
They abuse Lincoln tremendously. 

Of course, in such a large army as this there must 
be many instances of bad characters, who are always 
ready to plunder and pillage whenever they can do 
so without being caught : the stragglers, also, who 
remain behind when the army has left, will doubtless 
do much haiTii. It is impossible to prevent this ; but 
every thing that can be done is done to protect pri- 
vate property and non-combatants, and I can say, 
from my own observation, with wonderful success. I 
hear instances, however, in which soldiers, meeting 
well-dressed citizens, have made a " long arm" and 
changed hats, much to the disgust of the latter, who 
are still more annoyed when an exchange of boots is 
also proposed : their superfine broadcloth is never in 
any danger. 

General Longstreet is generally a particularly taci- 
turn man ; but this evening he and I had a long talk 
about Texas, where he had been quartered a long time. 

* This part of Pennsylvania is much peopled with the descend- 
ants of Germans, who speak an unintelligible language. 



MAJOE-GENERAL PICKETT. 247 

He remembered many people whom I liad met quite 
well, and was much, amused by the description of my 
travels through that country. I complimented him 
upon the manner in which the Confederate sentries 
do their duty, and said that they y/ere quite as strict 
as, and ten times more polite than, regular soldiers. 
He replied, laugliing, that a sentry, after refusing 
you leave to enter a camp, might very likely, if prop- 
erly asked, show you another way in, by which you 
might avoid meeting a sentry at all. 

I saw General Pendleton and General Pickett to- 
day. Pendleton is Chief of Artillery to the army, 
and was a ^V\^st-Pointer ; but in more peaceable times 
he fills the post of Episcopal clergyman in Lexington, 
Virginia. Unlike General Polk, he unites the mili- 
tary and clerical professions together, and continues 
to preach whenever he gets a chance. On these oc- 
casions he wears a surplice over his uniform. 

General Pickett commands one of the divisions in 
Longstreet's corps.* He wears his hair in long ring- 
lets, and is altogether rather a desperate looking 
character. He is the officer who, as Captain Pickett 
of the IT. S. army, figured in the difficulty between 
the British and United States in the San Juan Island 
affair, under General Harney, four or ^ve years ago. 

* M'Laws, Hood, and Pickett, are the tliree divisional com- 
manders or major-generals in Longstreet's co7^ps d'armee. 



24:8 GEIS'ERAL KOBEET E. LEE. 

30th June (Tuesday). — Tliis morning, before marcli- 
ing irom Chambersburg, General Longstreet intro- 
duced me to the Commander-in-cliief. General Lee 
is, almost without exception, tne handsomest man of 
his age I ever saw. He is iiftj-six years old, tall, 
broad-shouldered, very well made, well set up — a 
thorough soldier in appearance; and his manners 
are most courteous and full of dignity. He is a per- 
fect gentleman in every respect. I imagine no man 
has so few enemies, or is so universally esteemed. 
Throughout the South, all agree in pronouncing him 
to be as near perfection as a man can be. He has 
none of the small vices, such as smoking, drinking, 
chewing, or swearing, and his bitterest enemy never 
accused him of any of the greater ones. He gener- 
ally wears a well-worn long gray jacket, a high black 
felt hat, and blue trousers tucked into his Wellington 
boots. I never saw him carry arms ;* and the only 
mark of his military rank are the three stars on his 
collar. He rides a handsome horse, which is extreme- 
ly well groomed. He himself is very neat in his dress 
and person, and in the most arduous marches he 
always looks smart and clean.f 

* I never saw either Lee or Longstreet carry arms. A. P. Hill 
generally wears a sword. 

1 1 observed tliis during tlie tliree days' fighting at Gettysburg, 
and in the retreat afterwards, when every one else looked, and 
was, extremely dirty. 



In tlie old army lie was always considered one of 
its best officers ; and at tlie outbreak of these trou- 
bles, lie was Lieutenant-colonel of tlie 2d cavalry. He 
was a neb man, but bis fine estate was one of tbe first 
to fall into tbe enemy's bands. I believe be bas never 
slept in a bouse since be bas commanded tbe Virgin- 
ian army, and be invariably declines all ofiers of lios- 
pitality, for fear tbe person offering it may afterwards 
get into trouble for baving sheltered tbe Rebel Gen- 
eral. Tbe relations between bim and Longstreet are 
quite touching — they are almost always together. 
Longstreet's corps complain of this sometimes, as they 
say that they seldom get a chance of detached ser- 
vice, which falls to the lot of Ewell. It is impossible 
to please Longstreet more than by praising Lee. I 
believe these two Generals to be as little ambitious 
and as thoroughly unselfish as any men in tbe world. 
Both long for a successful termination of the war, in 
order that they may retire into obscurity. Stonewall 
Jackson (until his death tbe thu'd in command of 
their army) was just such another simple-minded ser- 
vant of bis country. It is understood that General 
Lee is a religious man, though not so demonstrative 
in that respect as Jackson; and, unlike his late 
brother in arms, be is a member of tbe Church of 
England. His only faults, so far as I can learn, 
arise from bis excessive amiability. 

Some Texan soldiers were sent this morning into 

11* 



250 MOVE TOWAEDS GETTYSBUEG. 

Cliambersbiirg to destroy a nnmber of barrels of ex- 
cellent wiiiskey, wliicli could not be carried away. 
This was a pretty good trial for tbeir discipline, and 
tbey did think it rather hard lines that the only time 
they had been allowed into the enemy's town was for 
the purpose of destroying their beloved whiskey. 
However, they did their duty like good soldiers. 

"We marched six miles on the road towards Gettys- 
burg, and encamped at a village called (I think) 
Greenwood. I rode Lawley's old horse, he and the 
Austrian using the doctor's ambulance. In the even- 
ing General Longstreet told me that he had just re- 
ceived intelligence that Hooker had been disrated, 
and that Meade was appointed in his place. Of 
course he knew both of them in the old army, and 
he says that Meade is an honorable and respectable 
man, though not, perhaps, so bold as Hooker. 

I had a long talk with many officers about the ap- 
proaching battle, which evidently cannot now be de- 
layed long, and will take place on this road instead of 
in the direction of Harrisburg, as we had supposed. 
Ewell, who has laid York as well as Carlisle under 
contribu-tion, has been ordered to reunite. Every one, 
of course, speaks with confidence. I remarked that 
it would be a good thing for them if on this occa- 
sion they had cavalry to follow up the broken in- 
fantry in the event of their succeeding in beating 
them. But to my surprise they all spoke of their 



stuaet's cavalsy. 251 

cavalry as not efficient for tliat purpose. In fact, 
Stuart's men, tliough. excellent at making raids, cap- 
turing wagons and stores, and cutting off communi- 
cations, seem to have no idea of charging infantry 
under any circumstances. Unlike the cavalry with 
Bragg's army, they wear swords, but seem to have 
little idea of using them — they hanker after their car- 
bines and revolvers. They constantly ride with their 
swords between their left leg and the saddle, which 
has a very fiinny appearance ; but their horses are 
generally good, and they ride well. The infantry 
and artillery of this army don't seem to respect the 
cavalry very much, and often jeer at them. I was 
forced to abandon my horse here, as he was now lame 
in three legs, besides having a very sore back. 

1st Jkdy (Wednesday). — ^We did not leave our camp 
till noon, as nearly all General Hill's corps had to 
pass our quarters on its march towards Gettysburg. 
One division of E well's also had to join in a little 
beyond Greenwood, and Longstreet's corps had to 
bring up the rear. During the morning I made the 
acquaintance of Colonel "Walton, who used to com- 
mand the well-known Washington Artillery, but he 
is now chief of artillery to Longstreet's corps Warmee. 
He is a big man, ci-devant auctioneer in E"ew Or- 
leans, and I understand he pines to return to his 
hammer. 



252 THE STONEWALL BEIGADE. 

Soon after starting we got into a pass in tlie South 
Mountain, a continuation, I believe, of tlie Blue 
Ridge range, which is broken by the Potomac at 
Harper's Ferry. The scenery through the pass is 
very fine. The first troops, alongside of whom we 
rode, belonged to Johnson's division of Ewell's corps. 
Among them I saw, for the first time, the celebrated 
" Stonewall" Brigade, formerly commanded by Jack- 
son. In appearance the men difier little from other 
Confederate soldiers, except, perhaps, that the brigade 
contains more elderly men and fewer boys. All (ex- 
cept, I think, one regiment) are Yirginians. As they 
have nearly always been on detached duty, few of 
them knew General Longstreet, except by reputation. 
I^umbers of them asked me whether the General in 
front was Longstreet ; and when I answered in the 
affirmative, many would run on a hundred yards in 
order to take a good look at hhn. This I take to be 
an immense compliment from any soldier on a long 
march. 

At 2 p. M. firing became distinctly audible in our 
front, but although it increased as we progressed, it 
did not seem to be very heavy. 

A spy who was with us insisted upon there being 
" a pretty tidy bunch of Uue-lelUes in or near Gettys- 
burg," and he declared that he was in their society 
three days ago. 

After passing Johnson's division, we came up to a 



BATTLE OF GETTYSBTJEG FIEST DAY. 253 

Florida brigade, wliich is now in Hill's corps ; bnt as 
it had formerly served under Longstreet, tlie men 
knew him. well. Some of them (after the General 
had passed) called out to their comrades, '* Look 
out for work now, boys, for here's the old bnll-dog' 
again." ' 

At 3 p. M. we began to meet wounded men coming 
to the rear, and the number of these soon increased 
most rapidly, some hobbling alone, others on stretch- 
ers carried by the ambulance corps, and others in the 
ambulance wagons. Many of the latter were stripped 
nearly naked, and displayed very bad wounds. This 
spectacle, so revolting to a person unaccustomed to 
such sights, produced no impression whatever upon 
the advancing troops, who certainly go under fii*e 
with the most perfect nonchalance. They show no 
enthusiasm or excitement, but the most complete in- 
difference. This is the effect of two years' almost 
uninterrupted fighting. 

We now began to meet Yankee prisoners coming 
to the rear in considerable numbers. Many of them 
were wounded, but they seemed already to be on ex- 
cellent terms with their captors, with whom they had 
commenced swapping canteens, tobacco, &c. Among 
them was a Pennsylvanian Colonel, a miserable ob- 
ject from a wound in his face. In answer to a ques- 
tion, I heard one of them remark, with a laugh, 
"We're pretty nigh whipped already." We next 



254 BATTLE OF GETTYSBUEG — ^FIEST DAY. 

came to a Confederate soldier carrying a Yankee 
color, belonging, I tMnk, to a Pennsylvania regiment, 
which lie told lis he had just captured. 

At 4.30 p. M. we came in sight of Gettysburg, and 
joined General Lee and General Hill, who were on 
the top of one of the ridges which form the peculiar 
feature of the country round Gettysburg. We could 
see the enemy retreating up one of the opposite 
ridges, pursued by the Confederates with loud yells. 
The position into which the enemy had been driven 
was evidently a strong one. His right appeared to 
rest on a cemetery, on the top of a high ridge to the 
right of Gettysburg, as we looked at it. 

General Hill now came up and told me he had 
been very unwell all day, and in fact he looks very 
delicate. He said he had had two of his divisions 
engaged, and had driven the enemy four miles into 
his present position, capturing a great many prison- 
ers, some cannon, and some colors. He said, how- 
ever, that the Yankees had fought with a determi- 
nation unusual to them. He pointed out a railway 
cutting, in which they had made a good stand ; also, 
a field in the centre of which he had seen a man 
plant the regimental color, round which the regiment 
had fought for some time with much obstinacy, and 
when at last it was obliged to retreat, the color- 
bearer retired last of all, turning round every now 
and then t9 shake his fist at the advancing rebels. 



I 



RESULT OF THE FLBST DAy's FIGHTINa. 255 

General Hill said lie felt quite sorrj when lie saw 
this gallant Yankee meet liis doom. 

General Ewell liad come up at 3.30, on the enemy's 
right (with part of his corps), and completed his dis- 
comfiture. General Eejnolds, one of the best Yan- 
kee generals, was reported killed. Whilst we were 
talking, a message arrived from General Ewell, re- 
questing Hill to press the enemy in the front, whilst 
he performed the same operation on his right. The 
pressm'e was accordingly applied in a mild degree, 
but the enemy were too strongly posted, and it was 
too late in the evening for a regular attack. The 
town of Gettysburg was now occupied by Ewell, and 
was full of Yankee dead and wounded. I climbed 
up a tree in the most commanding place I could find, 
and could form a pretty good general idea of the 
enemy's position, although the tops of the ridges 
being covered with pine-woods, it was very difficult 
to see any thing of the troops concealed in them. 
The firing ceased about dark, at which time I rode 
back with General Longstreet and his Staff to his 
headquarters at Cashtown, a little village eight miles 
from Gettysburg. At that time troops were pouring 
along the road, and were being marched towards the 
position they are to occupy to-morrow. 

In the fight to-day nearly 6,000 prisoners had been 
taken, and 10 guns. About 20,000 men must have 
been on the field on the Confederate side. The 



256 BATTLE OF aETTYSBUEG SECOND DAY. 

enemy had two corjps d^armee engaged. All tlie 
prisoners belong, I tliink, to tlie 1st and lltli corps. 
This day's work is called a " brisk little scurry," and 
all anticipate a " big battle" to-morrow. 

I observed that tlie artillerymen in charge of the 
horses dig themselves little holes like graves, thi'ow- 
ing np the earth at the upper end. They ensconce 
themselves in these holes when nnder fire. 

At snj)per this evening. General Longstreet spoke 
of the enemy's position as being " very formidable." 
He also said that they would doubtless intrench 
themselves strongly during the night.* The Staff 
ofiicers spoke of the battle as a certainty, and the 
universal feeling in the army was one of profound 
contempt for an enemy whom they have beaten so 
constantly, and under so many disadvantages. 

26? July (Thursday). — ^We all got up at 3.30 a. m., 
and breakfasted a little before daylight. Lawley in- 
sisted on riding, notwithstanding his illness. Captain 

and I were in a dilemma for horses ; but I was 

accommodated by Major Clark (of this Staff), whilst 
the stout Austrian was mounted by Major Walton. 
The Austrian, in spite of the early hour, had shaved 

* I have tlie best reason for supposing that the fight came off 
prematurely, and that neither Lee nor Longstreet intended that 
it should have begun that day. I also think that their plans were 
deranged by the events of the first. 



DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS. 257 

his clieeks and cired his mustaches as beautifully as 
if he was on parade at Vienna. 

Colonel Sorrell, the Austrian, and I arrived at 5 
A. M. at the same commanding position we were on 
yesterday, and I climbed np a tree in company with 
Captain Schi-eibert of the Prussian army. Just be- 
low us were seated Generals Lee, Hill, Longstreet, 
and Hood, in consultation — the two latter assisting 
their deliberations by the truly American custom of 
whittling sticks. General Heth was also present; 
he was wounded in the head yesterday, and although 
not allowed to command his brigade, he insists upon 
coming to the field. 

At 7 A. M. I rode over part of the ground with Gen- 
eral Longstreet, and saw him disposing of M'Laws's 
division for to-day's fight. The enemy occupied a 
series of high ridges, the tops of which were covered 
with trees, bnt the intervening valleys between their 
ridges and ours were mostly open, and partly nnder 
cultivation. The cemetery was on their right, and 
their left appeared to rest npon a high rocky hill. 
The enemy's forces, which were now supposed to 
comprise nearly the whole Potomac army, were con- 
centrated into a space apparently not more than a 
couple of miles in length. The Confederates inclosed 
them in a sort of semicircle, and the extreme extent 
of our position must have been from five to six miles 
at least. Ewell was on our left ; his headquarters in 



258 BATTLE OF GETTTSBTJEG SECOND DAY. 

a cliiircli (with a high cupola) at Gettysburg ; Hill in 
the centre ; and Longstreet on the right, Our ridges 
were also covered with pine-woods at the tops, and 
generally on the rear slopes. The artillery of both 
sides confronted each other at the edges of these belts 
of trees, the troops being completely hidden. The 
enemy was evidently intrenched, but the Southerners 
had not broken ground at all. A dead silence 
reigned till 4.45 p. m., and no one would have im- 
agined that such masses of men and such a powerful 
artillery were about to commence the work of de- 
struction at that hour. 

Only two divisions of Longstreet were present to- 
day — ^viz., M'Laws's and Hood's — Pickett being still 
in the rear. As the whole morning was evidently to 
be occupied in disposing the troops for the attack, I 
rode to the extreme right with Colonel Manning and 
Major Walton, where we ate quantities of cherries, 
and got a feed of corn for our horses. We also 
bathed in a small stream, but not without some trep- 
idation on my part, for we were almost beyond the 
lines, and were exposed to the enemy's cavalry. 

At 1 p. M. I met a quantity of Yankee prisoners 
who had been picked up straggling. They told me 
they belonged to Sickles's corps (3d, I think), and 
had arrived from Emmetsburg during the night. 
About this time skirmishing began along part of the 
line, but not heavily. 



GENERAL LEE. 259 

At 2 P. M. General Longstreet advised me, if I 
wished to have a good view of tlie battle, to return 
to my tree of yesterday. I did so, and remained 
there with Lawley and Captain Schreibert during 
the rest of the afternoon. But until 4.45 p. m. all 
was profoundly still, and we began to doubt whether 
a fight was coming off to-day at all. At that tune, 
however, Longstreet suddenly commenced a heavy 
cannonade on the right. Ewell immediately took it 
up on the left. The enemy replied with at least 
equal 'fury, and in a few moments the firing along 
the whole line was as heavy as it is possible to con- 
ceive. A dense smoke arose for six miles ; there was 
little wind to drive it away, and the air seemed full 
of shells — each of which appeared to have a different 
style of going, and to make a different noise from the 
others. The ordnance on both sides is of a very 
varied description. Every now and then a caisson 
would blow up — if a Federal one, a Confederate yell 
would immediately follow. The Southern troops, 
when charging, or to express their delight, always 
yell in a manner peculiar to themselves. The Yan- 
kee cheer is much more like ours ; but the Confed- 
erate officers declare that the rebel yell has a partic- 
ular merit, and always produces a salutary and useful 
effect upon their adversaries. A corps is sometimes 
spoken of as a "good yelling regiment." 

So soon as the firing began, General Lee joined 



260 BATTLE OF GETTTSBTJEG — SECOND DAT. 

Hill just below our tree, and lie remained there 
nearly all the time, looking through his field-glass — • 
sometimes talldns: to Hill and sometimes to Colonel 

o 

Long of his Staff. But generally he sat quite alone 
on the stump of a tree. What I remarked especially 
was, tliat during the whole time the firing continued, 
he only sent one message, and only received one re- 
port. It is evidently his system to arrange the plan 
thoroughly with the three corps commanders, and 
then leave to them the duty of modifying and carry- 
ing it out to the best of their abilities. 

When the cannonade was at its height, a Confeder- 
ate band of music, between the cemetery and our- 
selves, began to play polkas and waltzes, which 
sounded very curious, accompanied by the hissing 
and bursting of the shells. 

At 5.45 all became comparatively quiet on our left 
and in the cemetery ; but volleys of musketry on the 
right told us that Longstreet's infantry were advan- 
cing, and the onv/ard progress of the smoke showed 
that he was progressing favorably; but about 6.30 
there seemed to be a check, and even a slight retro- 
grade movement. Soon after 7, General Lee got a 
report by signal from Longstreet to say " we m^e doing 
weliy A little before dark the firing dropped oft" in 
every direction, and soon ceased altogether. We then 
received intelligence that Longstreet had carried 
every thing before him for some tune, capturing sev- 



BATTLE OF GETTTSBrRG — SECOND DAY. 261 

eral batteries, and driving the enemy from his posi- 
tions; bnt when Hill's Florida brigade and some 
other troops gave way, he was forced to abandon a 
small portion of the ground he had won, together 
with all the captui-ed guns, except three. His troops, 
however, bivouacked during the night on ground 
occupied by the enemy this morning. 

Every one deplores that Longstreet will expose 
himself in such a reckless manner. To-day he led a 
Georgian regiment in a charge against a battery, hat 
in hand, and in front of everybody. General Barks- 
dale was killed and Semmes mortally wounded ; but 
the most serious loss was that of General Hood, who 
was badly wounded in the arm early in the day. I 
heard that his Texans are in despair. Lawley and I 
rode back to the General's camp, which had been 
moved to within a mile of the scene of action. Long- 
street, however, with most of his Staff, bivouacked 
on the field. 

Major Fairfax arrived at about 10 p. m. in a very 
bad humor. He had under his charge about 1,000 to 
1,500 Yankee prisoners who had been taken to-day ; 
among them a general, whom I heard one of his men 
accusing of having been " so G — d d — d drunk that 
he had turned his guns upon his own men." But, 
on the other hand, the accuser was such a thundering 
blackguard, and proposed taking such a variety of 
oaths in order to escape from the U. S. army, that he 



262 THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 

is not worthy of much credit. A large train of horses 
and mules, &c., arrived to-day, sent in by General 
Stuart, and captured, it is understood, by his cavalry, 
which had penetrated to within 6 miles of Washington. 

Sd July (Friday). — At 6 A. m. I rode to the field 
with Colonel Manning, and went over that portion 
of the ground which, after a fierce contest, had been 
won from the enemy yesterday evening. The dead 
were being buried, but great numbers were still lying 
about; also many mortally wounded, for whom 
nothing could be done. Amongst the latter were a 
number of Yankees dressed in bad imitations of the 
Zouave costmne. They opened their glazed eyes as 
I rode past in a painfully imploring manner, 

"We joined Generals Lee and Longstreet's Staff: 
they were reconnoitring and making preparations for 
renewing the attack. As we formed a pretty large 
party, we often drew upon ourselves the attention of 
the hostile sharpshooters, and were two or three times 
favored with a shell. One of these shells set a brick 
building on fire which was situated between the lines. 
This building was filled with wounded, principally 
Yankees, who, I am afraid, must have perished miser- 
ably in the flames. Colonel Sorrell had been slightly 
wounded yesterday, but still did duty. Major Wal- 
ton's horse was killed, but there were no other casu- 
alties amongst my particular friends. 



, BATTLE OF GETTTSBUEG THIED DAY. 263 

The plan of yesterday's attack seems to have been 
very simple — first a heavy cannonade all along the line, 
follov/ed by an advance of Longstreet's two divisions 
and part of Hill's corps. In consequence of the ene- 
my's having been driven back some distance, Long- 
street's corps (part of it) was in a much more forward 
situation than yesterday. But the range of heights 
to be gained was still most formidable, and evidently 
strongly intrenched. 

The distance between the Confederate guns and 
the Yankee position — i. e., between the woods crown- 
ing the opposite ridges — was at least a mile — quite 
open, gently undulating, and exposed to artillery the 
whole distance. This was the ground which had to 
be crossed in to-day's attack. Pickett's division, 
which had just come up, was to bear the brunt in 
Longstreet's attack, together with Heth and Petti- 
grew in Hill's corps. Pickett's division was a weak 
one (under 5,000), owing to the absence of two bri- 
gades. 

At noon all Longstreet's dispositions were made ; 
his troops for attack were deployed into line, and lying 
down in the woods ; his batteries were ready to open. 
The general then dismounted and went to sleep for 
a short time. The Austrian officer and I now rode 
off to get, if possible, into some commanding position 
from whence we could see the whole thing without 
being exposed to the tremendous fire which was about 



264 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG ^THIRD DAY. - 

to commence. After riding about for half an hour 
without being able to discover so desirable a situa- 
tion; we determined to make for the cupola, near Get- 
tysburg, Ewell's headquarters. Just before we I'each- 
ed the entrance to the town, the cannonade opened 
with a f oiy which surpassed even that of yesterday. 

Soon after passing through the toll-gate at the 
entrance of Gettysburg, we found that we had got 
into a heavy cross-fire ; shells both Federal and Con- 
federate passing over our heads with great frequency. 
At length two shrapnel shells burst quite close to us, 

and a ball from one of them hit the officer who was 

f 

conducting us. We then turned round and changed 
our views with regard to the cupola — the fire of one 
side being bad enough, but preferable to tha,t of both 
sides. A small boy of twelve years was riding with 
ns at the time : this urchin took a diabolical interest 
in the bursting of the shells, and screamed with de- 
light when he saw them take effect. I never saw 
this boy again, or found out who he was. 

The road at Gettysburg was lined with Yankee 
dead, and as they had been killed on the 1st, the 
poor fellows had already begun to be very offensive. 
"We then returned to the hill I was on yesterday. 
But finding that, to see the actual fighting, it was 
absolutely necessary to go into the thick of the thing, 
I determined to make my way to General Longstreet. 
It was then about 2.30. After passing General Lee 



THE REPULSE. 265 

and his Staff, I rode on through the woods in the 
direction in which I had left Longstreet. I soon be- 
gan to meet many wonnded men returning from the 
front ; many of them asked in piteous tones the way 
to a doctor or an ambulance. The further I got, the 
greater became the number of the wounded. At last 
I came to a perfect stream of them flocking through 
the woods in numbers as great as the crowd in Ox- 
ford-street in the middle of the day. Some were 
walking alone on crutches composed of two rifles, 
others were supported by men less badly wounded 
than themselves, and others were carried on stretch- 
ers by the ambulance, corps ; but in no case did I see 
a sound man helping the wounded to the rear, unless 
he carried the red badge of the ambulance corps. 
They were still under a heavy fire ; the shells were 
continually bringing down great limbs of trees, and 
carrying further destruction amongst this melancholy 
procession. I saw all this in much less time than it 
takes to write it, and although astonished to meet 
such vast numbers of wounded, I had not seen enough 
to give me any idea of the real extent of the mischief. 
"When I got close up to General Longstreet, I saw 
one of his regiments advancing through the v/oods in 
good order ; so, thinking I was just in time to see the 
attack, I remarked to the General that " / loouldnt 
ha/ve missed this for any thingP Longstreet was 

seated at the top of a snake fence at the edge of the 

13 



266 THE EEPULSE. 

wood, and looking perfectly calm and imperturbed. 
He replied, laughing, " The devil you wouldnH! I 
would lihe to ham missed it mry much ; we've air 
tached and 'been rejpulsed: loolc there /" - 

For tlie first time I tlien liad a view of the open 
space between the two positions, and saw it covered 
with Confederates slowly and sulkily returning tow- 
ards us in small broken parties, under a heavy fire of 
artillery. But the fire where we were was not so bad 
as fm-ther to the rear ; for although the air seemed 
alive with shell, yet the greater number burst be- 
hind us. I 

The General told me that Pickett's division had 
succeeded in carrying the enemy's position and cap- 
turing his guns, but after remaining there twenty 
minutes, it had been forced to retire, on the retreat 
of Heth and Pettigrew on its left. !N"o person could 
have been more calm or self-possessed than General 
Longstreet under these trying circumstances, aggra- 
vated as they now were by the movements of the 
enemy, who began to show a strong disposition to 
advance. I could now thoroughly appreciate the 
term bulldog, which I had heard applied to him by 
the soldiers. Difficulties seem to make no other im- 
pression upon him than to make him a little more 
savage. 

Major "Walton was the only officer with hun when 
I came up — all the rest had been put into the charge. 



GENEEAL LEE AETER THE EEPULSE. 26Y 

In a few minutes Major Latrobe arrived on foot, car- 
rying his saddle, having just had his horse killed. 
Colonel Sorrell was also in the same predicament, 
and Captain Gofee's horse was wounded in the mouth. 

The General was making the best arrangements in 
his power to resist the threatened advance, by ad van 
cing some artillery, rallying the stragglers, &c. I re- 
member seemg a General (Pettigrew, I think it was)* 
come up to him, and report that " he was unable to 
bring his men up again." Longstreet turned upon 
him and replied with some sarcasm : " Very well y 
never mind^ iJien^ General; just let them remain 
where they are : the enemy's going to advance^ and 
will s^are you the trouhle^ 

He asked for something to drink : I gave him some 
rum out of my silver flask, which I begged he vf ould 
keep in remembrance of the occasion ; he smiled, and, 
i to my great satisfaction, accepted the memorial. He 
then went off to give some orders to M^Laws's division. 
Soon afterwards I joined General Lee, who had in 
the mean while come to that part of tlie field on be- 
coming aware of the disaster. If Longstreet's con- 
duct was admirable, that of General Lee was perfectly 
sublime. He was engaged in rallying and in encouT- 
aging the broken troops, and was riding about a little 
in front of the wood, quite alone — the whole of his 

* This oflacer was afterwards killed at the passage of the Poto- 
mac. 



V 



268 AFTEB THE REPTJLSE. 

Staff being engaged in a similar manner further to 
tlie rdar. His face, which is always placid and cheer- 
ful, did not show signs of the slightest disappointment, 
care, or annoyance ; and he was addressing to every 
soldier he met a few words of encouragement, such 
as, " All this will come right in the end : we'll talk 
it over afterwards ; but, in the mean time, all good 
men must rally. We want all good and true men 
just now," &c. He spoke to all the wounded men 
that passed him, and the slightly wounded he ex- 
horted " to bind up their hurts and take up a mus- 
ket" in this emergency. Yery few failed to answer 
his appeal, and I saw many badly wounded men take 
off their hats and cheer him. He said to me, " This 
has been a sad day for us, Colonel — a sad day ; but 
Vv^e can't expect always to gain victories." He w^as 1 1 
also kind enough to advise me to get into some more 
sheltered position, as the shells were bursting round 
us with considerable frequency. ■ 

^Notwithstanding the misfortune which had so sud- 
denly befallen him. General Lee seemed to observe 
every thing, however trivial. "When a mounted offi- 
cer began licking his horse for shying at the bm'sting 
of a shell, he called out, " Don't whip him. Captain ; 
don't whip him. I've got just such another foohsh 
horse myself, and whipping does no good." 

I happened to see a man lying flat on his face in a 
small ditch, and I remarked that I didn't think he 



AFTER THE EEPULSE. 269 

seemed dead ; this drew General Lee's attention to 
the man, who commenced groaning dismally. Find- 
ing appeals to his patriotism of no avail, General 
Lee had him ignominiously set on his legs by some 
neighboring gnnners. 

I saw General Willcox (an officer who wears a short 
round jacket and a battered straw hat) come np to 
him, and explain, almost crying, the state of his 
brigade. General Lee immediately shook hands with 
him and said cheerfully, " ]^ever mind. General, cill 
this has teen my faiolt — it is I that have lost this 
£ght, and you must help me out of it in the best w^ay 
you can." In this manner I saw General Lee en- 
courage and reanimate his somewhat dispirited troops, 
and magnanimously take upon his own shoulders the 
whole weight of the repulse. It was impossible to 
look at him or to listen to him without feeling the 
strongest admiration, and I never saw any man fail 
him except the mian in the ditch. 

It is difficult to exaggerate the critical state of af- 
fairs as they appeared about this time. If the enemy 
or their general had shown any enterprise, there is 
no saying what might have happened. General Lee 
and his officers were evidently fully impressed with a 
sense of the situation ; yet there was much less noise, 
fuss, or confusion of orders than at an ordinary iield- 
day; the men, as they were rallied in the w^ood, 
were brought up in detachments, and lay do^\Ti 



270 GALLANT AETILLEET^IEN. 

quietly and coolly in the positions assigned to 
tliem. 

We lieard that Generals Garnett and Armistead 
were killed, and General Kemper mortally wounded ; 
also, tliat Pickett's division had only one field-officer 
unhm't. IN^early all this slaughter took place in an 
open space about one mile square, and within one 
hour. 

At 6 p. M. we heard a lono' and continuous Yankee 
cheer, which we at first imagined was an indication 
of an advance ; but it turned out to be their recep- 
tion of a general officer, whom we saw riding down 
the line, followed by about thirty horsemen. Soon 
afterwards I rode to the extreme front, where there 
were four pieces of rifled cannon almost without any 
infantry support. To the non-withdrawal of these 
guns is to be attributed the otherwise surprising in- 
activity of the enemy. I was immediately surround- 
ed by a sergeant and about half-a-dozen gunners, who 
seemed in excellent spirits and full of confidence, in 
spite of their exposed situation. The sergeant ex- 
pressed his ardent hope that the Yankees might have 
spirit enough to advance and receive the dose he 
had in readiness for them. They spoke in admiration 
of the advance of Pickett's division, and of the man- 
ner in which Pickett himself had led it. When 
they observed General Lee they said, ""We've not 
lost confidence in the old man : this day's work won't 



MAJOR MOSES. 271 

do him no harm. ' Uncle Robert' will get ns into 
Washington yet ; you bet he will !" &c. Whilst we 
were talking, the enemy's skirmishers began to ad- 
vance slowly, and several ominous sounds in quick 
succession told us that we were attracting their at- 
tention, and that it was necessary to break up the 
conclave. I therefore turned round and took leave 
of these cheery and plucky gunners. 

At 7 p. M., General Lee received a report that John- 
son's division of Ewell's corps had been successful on 
the left, and had gained important advantages there. 
Firing entirely ceased in our front about this time ; 
but we nov/ heard some brisk musketry on our right, 
which I afterwards learned proceeded from Hood's 
Texans, who had managed to surround some enter- 
prising Yankee cavalry, and were slaughtering them 
v/ith great satisfaction. Only eighteen out of four 
hundred are said to have escaped. 

At 7.30, all idea of a Yankee attack being over, I 
rode back to Moses's tent, and found that worthy 
commissary in very low spirits, all sorts of exagger- 
ated rumors having reached him. On my way I met 
a great many wounded men, most anxious to inquire 
after Longstreet, who was reported killed ; when I 
assured them he was quite well, they seemed to for- 
get their own pain in the evident pleasure they felt 
in the safety of their chief, l^o words that I can use 
v/ill adequately express the extraordinary patience 



272 MAJOR MOSES EOBBED. 

and fortitnde with wliicli the wounded Confederates 
bore their sufferings. 

I got something to eat with the doctors at 10 p. m., 
the first for fifteen honrs. 

I gave np my horse to-day to his owner, as from 
death and exhaustion the Staff are almost without 

horses. 

* 

4:th Jidy (Satui'day). — I was awoke at daylight by 
Moses complaining that his valuable trunk, contain- 
ing much public money, had been stolen from our 
tent whilst we slept. After a search it was found in 
a wood hard by, broken open and minus the money. 
Dr. Barksdale had been robbed in the same manner 
exactly. This is evidently the work of those rascally 
stragglers, who shirk going under fire, plunder the 
natives, and will hereafter sv/agger as the heroes of 
Gettysbui'g. 

Lawley, the Austrian, and I, vv^alked up to the 
front about eight o'clock, and on our way we met 
General Longstrect, who was in a high state of 
amusement and good humor. A fl.ag of truce had 
just come over from the enemy, and its bearer an- 
nounced among other things that " General Long- 
street was wounded, and a prisoner, but would be 
taken care of." General Longstreet sent back word 
that he v.^as extremely grateful, but that, being nei- 
ther wounded nor a prisoner, he was quite able to 



Jt\.iX^ x>~^.^s^_t <»i>~^'iO» 



273 



take care of himself. The iron endurance of General 
Longstreet is most extraordinary: he seems to re- 
quire neither food nor sleep. Most of his Staff now 
fall fast asleep directly they get off their horses, they 
are so exhausted from the last three days' work. 

Whilst Lawley went to headquarters on business, I 
sat down and had a long talk with General Pendle- 
ton (the parson), chief of artillery. He told me the 
exact number of guns in action yesterday. Ho said 
that the universal opinion is in favor of the 12- 
pounder l^apoleon guns as the best and simplest sort 
of ordnance for field purposes."^^' l^early all the ar- 
tillery with this army has either been captured from 
the enemy or cast from old 6-pounders taken at the 
early part of the war. 

At 10 A. M. Lawley returned from headquarters, 
bringing the news that the army is to commence 
moving in the direction of Virginia this evSiiiig. 
This step is imperative from want of ammunition. 
But it was hoped that the enemy might attack during 
the day, especially as this is the 4th of July, and it 
was calculated that there was still ammunition for 
one day's fighting. The ordnance train had already 
commenced moving back towards Cashtown, and 

* The Napoleon 12-pounder3 are smooth-bore brass guns, with 

chambers, very light, and with long range. They were invented 

or recommended by Louis Napoleon years ago. A large number 

axe being cast at Augusta and elsewhere. 

12* 



274 PEEPAEATIONS FOR THE EETEEAT. 

Ewell's immense train of plunder liad been proceed- 
ing towards Hagerstown by tlie Fairfield road ever 
since an early liour tliis morning. 

Johnson's division bad evacuated during the nigbt 
the position it bad gained yesterday. It appears that 
for a time it was actually in possession of the ceme- 
tery, but bad been forced to retire from thence from 
want of support by Pender's division, which had 
been retarded by that officer's wound. The whole of 
our left was therefore thrown back considerably. 

At 1 p. M. the rain began to descend in torrents, 
and we took refuge in the hovel of an ignorant Penn- 
sylvanian boor. The cottage was full of soldiers, 
none of whom had the slightest idea of the contem- 
plated retreat, and all were talking of "Washington 
and Baltimore with the greatest confidence. 

At 2 p. M. we walked to General Longstreet's camp, 
whicn had been removed to a place three miles distant, 
on the Fairfield road. General Longstreet talked to 
me for a long time about the battle. He said the 
mistake they had made was in not concentrating the 
army more, and making the attack yesterday with 
30,000 men instead of 15,000. The advance had 
been in three lines, and the troops of Hill's corps 
who gave way were young soldiers, who had never 
been under fire before. He thought the enemy would 
have attacked had the guns been withdrawn. Had 
they done so at that particular moment immediately 



THE EETREAT. 275 

after the repulse, it would have been awkward ; but 
in that case he had given orders for the advance of 
Hood's division and M'Laws's on the right. I think, 
after all, that General Meade was right not to 
advance — ^his men would never have stood the tre- 
mendous fire of artillery they would have been 
exposed to. 

Rather over 7,000 Yankees were captured dur- 
ing the three days ; 3,500 took the parole ; the re- 
mainder were now being marched to Richmond, es- 
corted by the remains of Pickett's division. It is 
impossible to avoid seeing that the cause of this check 
to the Confederates lies in the utter contempt felt for 
the enemy by all ranks. 

"Wagons, horses, mules, and cattle captured in 
Pennsylvania, the solid advantages of this campaign, 
have been passing slowly along this road (Fairfield) 
all day : those taken by Ewell are particularly admir- 
ed. So interminable was this train that it soon 
became evident that we should not be able to start 
till late at night. As soon as it became dark we all 
lay round a big fire, and I heard reports coming in 
from the difterent generals that the enemy was retir- 
ing, and had been doing so all day long. M^Laws 
reported nothing in his front but cavalry videttes. 
But this, of course, could make no diflerence to Gen- 
eral Lee's plan : ammunition he must have — ^he had 
failed to capture it from the enemy (according to 



276 THE EETEEAT. 

precedent) ; and as Ms communications with Virginia 
were intercepted, lie was compelled to fall back to- 
wards Yv^incliester, and draw his supplies from thence. 
General Milroj had kindly left an ample stock at 
that town when he made his precipitate exit some 
weeks ago. The army was also incumbered with an 
enormous wagon-train, the spoils of Pennsylvania, 
which it is highly desirable to get safely over the 
Potomac. 

Shortly after 9 p. m. the rain began to descend in 
torrents. Lawley and I luckily got into the doctors' 
covered buggy, and began to get slowly under way a 
little after midnight. 

^tli July (Sunday). — The night was very bad — 
thunder and lightning, torrents of rain — the road 
knee-deep in mud and water, and often blocked up 
with wagons " come to grief." I pitied the wi'etched 
plight of the unfortunate soldiers who were to follow 
us. Our progress was natm-ally very slow indeed, 
and we took eight hours to go as many miles. 

At 8 A. M. we halted a little beyond the village of 
Fairfield, near the entrance to a mountain-pass. ITo 
sooner had we done so, and lit a fire, than an alarm 
was spread that Yankee cavalry were upon us. Sev- 
eral shots flew over om* heads, but w^e never could 
discover from whence they came. ]N"ews also arrived 
of the capture of the whole of Swell's beautiful 



LIEUTENANT-GENEEAL EWELL. 277 

wagons."^ These reports created a regular stampede 
amongst tlie wagoners, and Longstreet's drivers 
started off as fast as tliey conld go. Om- medical 
trio, however, firmly declined to budge, and came to 
this wise conclusion, partly iirged by the pangs of 
hunger, and partly from the consideration that, if 
the Yankee cavalry did come, the crowded state of 
the road in our rear would prevent our escape. Soon 
afterwards, some Confederate cavalry were pushed to 
the front, who cleared the pass after a slight skirmish. 
At noon. Generals Lee and Longstreet arrived, and 
halted close to us. Soon afterwards Ewell came up. 
This is the first time I ever saw him. He is rather a 
remarkable-looking old soldier, with a bald head, a 
prominent nose, and rather a haggard, sickly face : 
having so lately lost his leg above the knee, he is still 
a complete cripple, and falls off his horse occasionally. 
Directly he dismounts he has to be put on crutches. 
He was Stonewall Jackson's coadjutor during the 
celebrated Yalley campaigns, and he used to be a 
great swearer — in fact, he is said to have been the 
only person who was unable to restrain that propen- 
sity before Jackson ; but since his late (rather roman- 
tic) marriage, he has (to use the American expression) 
'^ joined the CJiuTcliP When I saw him he was in a 
great state of disgust in consequence of the supposed 

* It afterwards turned out tliat all escaped but tliirty-eiglit. 



278 ^ THE EETEEAT. 

loss of his wagons, and refused to be comforted by 
General Lee. 

I joined Longstreet again, and, monnted on Law- 
ley's venerable liorse, started at 3 p. m. to ride tbrougb 
tlie pass. At 4 p. m. we stopped at a place where 
tlie roads fork, one leading to Emmetsbiirg, and the 
other to Hagerstown. Major Moses and I entered a 
farm-house, in which we found several women, two 
wounded Yankees, and one dead one, the result of 
this morning's skirmish. One of the sufferers was 
frightfully wounded in the head ; the other was hit 
in the knee : the latter told me he was an Irishman, 
and had served in the Bengal Europeans during the 
Indian Mutiny. He now belonged to a Michigan 
cavalry regiment, and had already imbibed American 
ideas of Ireland's wrongs, and all that sort of trash. 
He told me that his officers were very bad, and that 
the idea in the army was that M'Clellan had assumed 
the chief command. 

The women in this house were great Abolitionists. 
When Major Fairfax rode up, he inquired of one of 
them whether the corpse was that of a Confederate 
or Yankee (the body was in the veranda, covered with 
a white sheet). The woman made a gesture with her 
foot, and replied, " If it was a rebel, do you think it 
would be here long?" Fairfax then said, "Is it a 
woman who speaks in such a manner of a dead body 
which can do no one any harm ?" She thereupon 



THE EETEEAT. ^ 279 

colored up, and said slie wasn't in earnest. At 
6 o'clock we rode on again (by the Ilagerstown 
road), and came up with General Longstreet at 7.30. 
The road was full of soldiers marching in a particu- 
larly lively manner — the wet and mud seemed to have 
produced no effect whatever on their spirits, which 
were as boisterous as ever. They had got hold of 
colored prints of Mr. Lincoln, which they were pass- 
ing about from company to company with many 
remarks upon the personal beauty of Uncle Abe. 
The same old chaff was going on of " Come out of 
that hat — I know you're in it — I sees your legs a- 
dangling down," &c. Y*^hen we halted for the night, 
skirmishing was going on in front and rear — Stuart 
in front and Ewell in rear. Our bivouac being near 
a large tavern. General Longstreet had ordered some 
supper there for himself and his Staff; but wh^n we 
went to devour it, we discovered General M'Laws 
and his officers rapidly finishing it. We, however, 
soon got more, the Pennsylvanian proprietors being 
particularly anxious to prox3itiate the General, in 
hopes that he would spare their live stock, which had 
been condemned to death by the ruthless Moses. 

During supper, women came rushing in at inter- 
vals, saying — " Oh, good heavens, now they're killing 
our fat hogs. Which is the General? which is the 
Great Officer ? Our milch cows are now going." To 
all which expressions Longstreet replied, shaking his 



280 *- THE EETEEAT. 

head in a melaiiclioly manner — " Yes, madam, it's 
very sad — Yerj sad ; and this sort of thing has been 
going on in Virginia more than two years — very 
sad." We all slept in the open, and the heavy rain 
produced no effect npon onr slumbers. 

I understand it is impossible to cross the lines by 
flag of truce. I therefore find myself in a dilemma 
about the expiration of my leave. 

6th July (Monday). — Several horses were stolen 
last night, mine nearly so. It is necessary to be very 
careful, in order to prevent this misfortune. We 
started at 6.30, but got on very slowly, so blocked up 
was the road with wagons, some of which had been 
captured and burnt by the enemy yesterday. It now 
turned out that all Swell's wagons escaped except 
thirty-eight, although, at one time, they had been all 
in the enemy's hands. 

At 8.30 v/e halted for a couple of hours, and Gen- 
erals Lee, Longstreet, Hill, and Willcox, had a con- 
sultation. I spoke to about my difficulties with 

regard to getting home, and the necessity of doing 
so, owing to the approaching expiration of my leave. 
He told me that the army had no intention at present 
of retreating for good, and advised me to stop with 
them and see w^hat turned up. He also said that 
some of the enemy's dispatches had been intercej^ted, 
in which the following words occur : — " The noble 



a ^^/^T> nvxTr,^T:,-r. » 



r 



GOOD KIGGEE." 281 

but unfortunate army of the Potomac has again been 
obliged to retreat before superior numbers." I par- 
ticularly observed tlie marching to-day of the 21st 
Mississippi, which was uncommonly good. This 
regiment all wear short round jackets, a most un- 
usual circumstance, for they are generally unpopular 
in the South. 

At 12 o'clock we halted again, and all set to work 
to eat cherries, which was the only food we got be- 
tween 5 A. M. and 11 p. m. 

I saw a most laughable spectacle this afternoon — 
viz., a negro dressed in fall Yankee uniform, with a 
rifle at full cock, leading along a barefooted white 
man, with whom he had evidently changed clothes. 
General Longstreet stopx^ed the pair, and asked the 
black man what it meant. He replied, " The two 
soldiers in charge of this here Yank have got drunk, 
so for fear he should escape I have took care of him, 
and brought him through that little town." The 
consequential manner of the negro, and the supreme 
contempt with which he spoke to his prisoner, were 
most amusing. This little episode of a Southern 
slave leading a white Yankee soldier through a 
Northern village, alone and of his own accord, would 
not have been gratif)dng to an abolitionist. ISTor 
vv^ould the sympathizers both in England and in the 
North feel encouraged if they could hear the language 
of detestation and contempt with which the numerous 



282 AN ALAEM. 

negroes witli the Soutliern armies speak of their 
liberators.* 

I saw General Hood in his carriage ; he looked 
rather bad, and has been suffering a good deal ; the 
doctors seem to doubt whether they will be able to 
save his arm. I also saw General Hampton, of the 
cavalrj, who has been shot in the hip, and has two 
sabre-cuts on the head, but he was in very good spirits. 

A short time before we reached Hagerstown there 
was some firing in front, together with an alarm that 
the Yankee cavalry was upon us. The ambulances 
w^ere sent back ; but some of the wounded jumped 
out, and, producing the rifles which they had not 
parted with, they prepared to fight. After a good 
deal of desultory skirmishing, we seated ourselves 
ujDon a hill overlooking Hagerstown, and saw the 

* From wliat I have seen of the Southern negroes, I am of 
opinion that the Confederates could, if they chose, convert a great 
number into soldiers ; and from the affection which midoubtedly 
exists as a general rule between the slaves and their masters, I 
think that they would prove more eflBcient than black troops under 
any other circumstances. But I do not imagine that such an ex- 
periment will be tried, except as a very last resort, partly on 
account of the great value of the negroes, and partly because the 
Southerners consider it im]3roper to introduce such an element on 
a large scale into civilized warfare. Any person who has seen 
negro features convulsed with rage, may form a slight estimate of 
what the result would be of arming a vast number of blacks, 
rousing their passions, and then allowing them free scope. 



A STAMPEDE. 283 

enemy's cavaliy driven through the town pnrsned by 
yelling Confederates. A good many Yankee prison- 
ers now passed ns; one of them who was smoking a 
cigar, was a lieutenant of cavalry, dressed very smart- 
ly, and his hair brushed with the greatest care ; he 
formed rather a contrast to his ragged escort, and to 
ourselves, who had not washed or shaved for ever so 
long. 

About 7 p. M. we rode through Ilagerstown, in the 
streets of which were several dead horses and a few 
dead men. After proceeding about a mile beyon^ 
the town we halted, and General Longstreet sent four 
cavalrymen up a lane, with directions to report every 
thing they saw. We then dismounted and lay down. 
About ten minutes later (being nearly dark) we heard 
a sudden rush — a panic — and then a regular stampede 
commenced, in the midst of which I descried our four 
cavalry heroes crossing a field as fast as they could 
gallop. All was now complete confusion ; — ofiicers 
mounting their horses, and pursuing those which had 
got loose, and soldiers climbing over fences for protec- 
tion against the supposed advancing Yankees. In 
the middle of the din I heard an artillery ofiicer shout- 
ing to his " cannoneers" to stand by him, and plant 
the guns in a proper position for enfilading the lane. 
I also distinguished Longstreet walking about, hus- 
tled by the excited crowd, and remarking, in angry 
tones, which could scarcely be heard, and to which 



284: CAVALRY SKlRMISHIKa. 

110 attention was paid, " ITow, you don't know what 
it is — you don't know what it is." Whilst the row 
and confusion were at their height, the object of all 
this alarm at length emerged from the dark lane, in 
the shape of a domestic four-Y>dieel carriage, with a 
harmless load of females. The stampede had, how- 
ever, spread, increased in the rear, and caused much 
harm and delay. 

Cavalry skirmishing went on until quite dark, a 
determined attack having been made by the enemy, 
who did his best to prevent the trains from crossing 
the Potomac at AYilliamsport. It resulted in the suc- 
cess of the Confederates ; but every impartial man 
confesses that these cavalry fights are miserable affairs. 
ISTeither party has any idea of serious charging wdth 
the sabre. They approach one another with consid- 
erable boldness, until they get to within about forty 
yards, and then, at the very moment when a dash is 
necessary, and the sword alone should be used, they 
hesitate, halt, and commence a desultory fire with 
carbines and revolvers. An Englishman, named 
Winthrop, a captain in the Confederate army, and 
formerly an officer in II. M.'s 22d regiment, althongh 
not in the cavalry himself, seized the colors of one 
of the regiments, and rode straight at the Yankees 
in the most gallant manner, shouting to tlie men to 
follow him. He continued to distinguish himself by 
leading charges until his horse was unfortunately 



HAGERSTOWN. 285 

killed. I heard liis conduct on tliis occasion liiglily 
spoken of hj all. Stuart's cavalrj can hardly be 
called cavalry in the European sense of the word ; 
but, on the other hand, the country in which they 
are accustomed to operate is not adapted for cavalry. 

was forced at last to give up wearing even 

his Austrian forage-cap ; for the last two days soldiers 
on the line of march had been visiting his ambulance 
in great numbers, under the impression (encouraged 
by the driver) that he was a Yankee general. The 
idea now was that the army would remain some days 
in or near its present position until the arrival of the 
ammunition from "Winchester. 

7tk July (Tuesday). — Lawley, the Austrian, and I 
drove into Ilagerstown this morning, and General 
Longstreet moved into a new position on the Wil- 
liam sport road, which he was to occupy for the 
present. We got an excellent room in the Washing- 
ton Hotel on producing greenbacks. Public opinion 
in Hagerstown seems to be pretty evenly divided 
between l^ortlr and South, and probably accommo- 
dates itself to circumstances. For instance, yester- 
day the women waved their handkerchiefs when the 
Yankee cavalry were driven through the town, and 
to-day they went through the same compliment in 
honor of 3,500 Yankee (Gettysburg) prisoners whom 
I saw march through en route for Eichmond. I over- 

9! 



S86 JEB STUAET. 

heard the conversation of some Confederate soldiers 
about these prisoners. One remarked, with respect to 
the ZonaveSj of whom there were a few — " Those red- 
breeched fellows look as if thej conld fight, but they 
don't, though ; no, not so w^ell as the blue-bellies." 

Lawley introduced me to General Stuart in the 
streets of Hagerstown to-day. He is commonly called 
Jeb Stuart, on account of his initials ; he is a good- 
looking, jovial character, exactly like his photographs 
He has certainly accomplished wonders, and done ex- 
cellent service in his peculiar style of warfare. Hfe 
is a good and gallant soldier, though he sometimes 
incurs ridicule by his harmless affectation and pecu- 
liarities. The other day he rode through a Yirginian 
town, his horse covered with garlands of roses. He 
also departs considerably from the severe simplicity 
of dress adopted by other Confederate generals ; but 
no one can deny that he is the right man in the right 
place. On a campaign, he seems to roam over the 
country according to his own discretion, and always 
gives a good account of himself, turning up at the 
right moment ; and hitherto he has never got him- 
self into any serious trouble. 

I rode to General Longstreet's camp, which is about 
two miles in the direction of Williamsport, and con- 
sulted him about my difficulties with regard to my 
leave. He was most good-natured about it, and ad- 
vised me under the circumstances to drive in the direc 



TAKE LEAVE OF LONGSTEEET. 287 

lion of Hancock ; and in the event of bdng ill-treated 
on tlie way, to insist npon being taken before tlie 
nearest U. S. officer of the liigliest rank, who would 
probably protect me. I determined to take his advice 
at once ; so I took leave of him and of his officers. 
Longstreet is generally a very taciturn and undemon- 
strative man, but he was quite affectionate in his fare- 
well. His last words were a hearty hope for the 
speedy termination of the war. All his officers were 
equally kind in their expressions on my taking leave, 
though the last sentence uttered by Latrobe was not 
entirely reassuring — viz., "You may take your oath 
he'll be caught for a spy." 

I then rode to General Lee's camp, and asked him 
for a pass to get through his lines. We had a long 
talk together, and he told me of the raid made by the 
enemy, for the express purpose of arresting his badly 
wounded son (a Confederate Brigadier-general), who 
was lying in the house of a relation in Virginia. 
They insisted upon carrying him off in a litter, though 
he had never been out of bed, and had quite recently 
been shot through the thigh. This seizure was 
evidently made for purposes of retaliation. His 
life has since been threatened, in the event of the 
South retaliating for Burnside's alleged military mur- 
ders in Kentucky. But few officers, however, speak 
of the ISTortherners with so much moderation as Gen- 
eral Lee ; his extreme amiability seems to prevent 



288 PREPARATION TO LEAVE. 

liis speaklng^strongly against any one. I really felt 
quite sorry vrhen I said good-by to so many gentle- 
men from whom I liad received so mucli disinterested 

kindness. 

I am now about to leave the Southern States, after 
travel ling quite alone throughout their entire length 
and breadth, including Texas and the trans-Missis- 
sippi country, for nearly three months and a half, 
durhig which time I have been thrown amongst all 
classes of the population — the higlieat and lowest, 
and the most lawless. Although many were very 
sore about the conduct of England, I never received 
an imcivil word from anybody, but, on the contrary, 
I have been treated by all with more than kindness.* 
I have never met a man who was not anxious for a 
termination of the war ; and I have never met a man, 
woman, or child who contemplated its termination 
as possible w^ithout an entire separation from the 
oiow detested Yankee. I have never been asked for 
alms or a gratuity by any man or woman, black or 
white. Every one knew who I was, and all spoke 
to me with the greatest confidence. I have rarely 
heard any person complain of the almost total ruin 

■" The only occasion on -vrliicli I was roiTgMj handled was when 
I had the misfortune to enter the city of Jackson, Mississippi, just 
as the Federals evacuated it. I do not complain of that affair, 
which, under the circumstances, was not to be wondered at. 



|i 



PKEPARATIOK TO LEAVE. 289 

wliicli Iiad befallen so many. All are prepared to 
undergo still greater sacrifices, — they contemplate 
and prepare to receive greater reverses wliicli it is 
impossible to avert. Tliey look to a successful termi- 
nation of tlie war as certain, although few are san- 
guine enough to fix a speedy date for it, and nearly 
all bargain for its lasting at least all Lincoln's ]3resi- 
dency. Although I have always been with the Con- 
federates in the time of their misfortunes, yet I never 
heard any person use a desponding word as to the 
result of the struggle. Tfhen I was in Texas and 
Louisiana, Banks seemed to be carrying every thing 
before him, Grant was doing the same in Mississippi, 
and I certainly did not bring luck to my friends at 
Gettysburg. I have lived in bivouacs with all the 
Southern armies, which are as distinct from one an- 
other as the British is from the Austrian, and I have 
never once seen an instance of insubordination. 

When I got back to Hagerstown, I endeavored to 
make arrangements for a horse and buggy to drive 
through the lines. With immense difiiculty I secured 

the services of a Mr. , to take me to Hancock, 

and as much further as I chose to go, for a dollar 
a mile (greenbacks). I engaged also to j)ay him the 
value of his horse and buggy, in case they should 
be confiscated by either side. He was evidently ex- 
tremely alarmed, and I was obliged to keep liim up 

to the mark by assurances that his horse would in- 

13 



290 I CEOSS THE LINES. 

evitably be seized by tbe Confederates, unless pro- 
tected bj General Lee's pass in my possession. 

%th July (Wednesday). — My conductor told me be 
couldn't go to-day on account of a funeral, but be 
promised faithfully to start to-morrow. Every one 
was full of forebodings as to my probable fate wben 
I fell into Yankee clutches. In deference to their 
advice I took off my gray shooting-jacket, in which 
they said I was sure to be taken for a rebel, and I 
put on a black coat ; but I scouted all well-meant 
advice as to endeavoring to disguise myself as ad 
"American citizen," or to conceal the exact truty 
in any way. I was aware that a great deal depend- 
ed upon falling into the hands of a gentleman, and I 
did not believe these were so rare in the IN'orthern.] 
army as the Confederates led me to suppose. 






^th July (Thursday). — 1 left Hagerstown at 8 a.m., 
in my conductor's good buggy, after saying farewell 
to Lawley, the Austrian, and the numerous Confed- 
erate officers who came to see me off, and wish me 
good-luck. We passed the Confederate advanced 
post at about two miles from Hagerstown, and were 
allowed to pass on the production of General Lee's 
authority. I was now fairly launched beyond the 
Confederate lines for the first time since I had been 
in Anaerica. Immediately afterwards we began to 



'^^ 



TAKEK FOE A SPY A SECOND TIME. 291 

be asked all sorts of inquisitive questions about the 
rebels, which I left to my driver to answer. It be- 
came perfectly evident that this narrow strip of Mary- 
land is entirely Unionist. 

At about 12 o'clock we reached the top of a high 
hill, and halted to bait our horse at an inn called 
Fairview. v,!N"o sooner had we descended from the 
buggy than about twenty rampageous Unionists ap- 
peared, who told us they had come up to get a good 
view of the big fight in which the G — d d — d rebels 
were to be all captured, or drowned in the Potomac. 

My appearance evidently did not please them from 
the very first. With alarm I observed them talking 
to one another, and pointing at me. At length a 
particularly truculent-looking individual, with an en- 
ormous mustache, approached mo, and, fixing his eyes 
long and steadfastly upon my trousers, he remark- 
ed, in the surliest possible tones, " TJiem hreeches is 
a d — d had colorP This he said in allusion, not to 
their dirty state, but to the fact of their being gray, 
the rebel color. I replied to this very disagreeable 
assertion in as conciliating a way as I possibly could ; 
and in answer to his question as to who I was, I said 
that I was an English traveller. He then said that 
his wife was an English lady from Preston. I next 
expressed my pride of being a countryman of his 
wife's. He then told me in tones that admitted of 
no contradiction, that Preston was just forty-five 



292 TAKEN FOR A SPY A SECOND TIME. • 

miles east of London; and lie afterwards launched 
into torrents of invectives against the rebels, who had 
Titn him out of Virginia ; and he stated his intention 
of killing them in great numbers to gratify his taste. 
"With some difficulty I prevailed upon him and his 
rabid brethren to drink, which paciiled them slight- 
ly for a time ; but when the horse was brought out 
to be harnessed, it became evident I was not to be 
allowed to proceed without a row. I therefore ad- 
dressed the crowd, and asked them quietly who 
among them v/ished to detain me ; and I told them 
at the same time, that I would not answer any ques- 
tions put by those who were not persons in authority, 
but that I should be most happy to explain myself 
to any officer of the United States army. At length 
they allowed me to proceed, on the understanding 
that my buggy-driver should hand me over to Gen- 
eral Kelly, at Hancock. The driver was provided 
with a letter for the general, in which I afterwards 
discovered that I was denounced as a spy, and 
"handed over to the General to he dealt with as jus- 
tide to OUT cause demandsP "We were then allowed 
to start, the driver being threatened with condign 
vengeance if he let me escape. 

After we had proceeded about six miles we fell 
in with some Yankee cavalry, by whom we were im- 
mediately captured, and the responsibility of my 
custody was thus removed from my conductor's 



THE NOETHEEN SOLDIEES. 293 

slioulders. A cavalry soldier was put in charge of 
us, and we passed through the numerous Yankee out- 
posts under the title of ''Prisoner 8,'^'^ 

The hills near Hancock were white with Yankee 
tents, and there w^ere, I believe, from 8,000 to 10,000 
Federals there. I did not think much of the appear- 
ance of the ]tTorthern troops ; they are certainly 
dressed in proper uniform, but their clothes are bad- 
ly fitted, and they are often round-shouldered, dirty, 
and slovenly in appearance ; in fact, bad imitations 
of soldiers. Now, the Confederate has no ambition 
to imitate the regular soldier at all ; he looks the 
genuine rebel ; but in spite of his bare feet, his ragged 
clothes, his old rug, and tooth-brush stuck like a rose 
in his button-hole,* he has a sort of devil-may-care, 
reckless, self-confident look, which isdecidedh^ taking. 

At 5 P.M. we drove up in front of the door of Gen- 
eral Kelly's quarters, and to my immense relief I 
soon discovered that he was a gentleman. I then 
explained to him the whole truth, concealing nothing. 
I said I was a British officer on leave of absence, 
travelling for my own instruction ; that I had been 
all the wa}'' to Mexico, and entered the Soutliern 
States by the Rio Grande, for the express purpose of 
not breaking any legally established blockade. I told 
him I had visited all the Southern armies in Missis- 

* Tliis tootli-brush in the button-liole is a very common custom, 
and lias a most quaint effect. 



294 GENEEAL KELLY. 

sippi, Tennessee, Charleston, and Yirginia, and seen 
the late campaign as General Longstreet's guest, but 
had in no way entered the Confederate service. I 
also gave him mj word that I had not got in my pos- 
session any letters, either public or private, from any 
person in the South to any person anywhere else. I 
showed him my British passport and General Lee's 
pass as a British officer ; and I explained that my 
only object in coming JSTorth was to return to Eng- 
land in time for the expiration of my leave ; and I 
ended by expressing a hope that he would make my 
detention as short as possible. 

After considering a short time, he said that he 
would certainly allow me to go on, but that he could 
not allow my driver to go back. I felt immensely 
relieved at the decision, but the countenance of my 
com J) anion lengthened considerably. It was, how- 
ever, settled that he should take me on to Cumber- 
land, and General Kelly good-naturedly promised to 
do what he could for him on his return. 

General Kelly then asked me in an off-hand manner 
whether all General Lee's army was at Hagerstown ; 
but I replied, laughing, " You of course understand. 
General, that, having got that pass from General Lee, 
I am bound by every principle of honor not to give 
you any information which can be of advantage to 
you." He laughed and promised not to ask me any 
more questions of that sort. He then sent his aid- 



m 



GEKEEAL KELLY. 295 

de-camp witli me to the provost-marshal, who immedi- 
atelj gave me a pass for Cumberland. On my return 
to the General's, I discovered the perfidious driver 
(that zealous Southerner a few hours previous) hard 
at work communicating to General Kelly all he knew, 
and a great deal more besides; but, from what I 
heard, I don't think his information was very valuable. 

I was treated by General Kelly and all his ofiicers 
with the greatest good-nature and courtesy, although 
I had certainly come among them under circumstances 
suspicious, to say the least. I felt quite sorry that 
they should be opposed to my Southern friends, and 
I regretted still more that they should be obliged 
to serve with or under a Eutler, a Milroy, or even a 
Hooker. I took leave of them at six o'clock ; and 
I can truly say that the only Federal officers I have 
ever come in contact with were gentlemen. 

We had got four miles beyond Hancock, when the 
tire of one of our wheels came off, and we had to stop 
for a night at a farm-house. I had supper with the 
farmer and his laborers, who had just come in from 
the fields, and the supper was much superior to that 
which can be procured at the first hotel at Richmond. 
All were violent Unionists, and perfectly under the 
impression that the rebels were totally demoralized, 
and about to lay down their arms. Of course I held 
my tongue, and gave no one reason to suppose that 
I had ever been in rebeldom. 



296 STAGE-TEAVELLING IN THE NOETH. 

lOtJi July (Friday). — The drive from Hancock to 
Cumberland is a very mountainous forty-four miles — 
total distance from Hagerstown, sixty-six miles. We 
met Avith no further adventure on the road, although 
the people were verj^ inquisitive, but I never opened 
ray moutli. One woman in particular, who kept a 
toll-bar, thrust her ugly old head out of an upper 
window, and yelled out, " Air they a-fixin' for another 
battle out there ?'' jerking her head in the direction of 
Hagerstown. The driver replied that, although the 
bunch of rebels there was pretty big, yet he could not 
answer for their fixing arrangements, which he after- 
wards explained to me meant digging fortifications. 

We arrived at Cumberland at 7 p. m. This is a 
great coal place, and a few weeks ago it was touched 
up by " Imboden," who burnt a lot of coal barges, 
which has rendered the people rabid against tlie Rebs. 
I started by stage for Johnstown at 8.30 p. m. 

nth Jvly (Saturday). — I hope I may never for my 
sins be again condemned to travel for thirty hours 
in an American stage on a used-up plank-road. We 
changed carriages at Somerset. All my fellow-trav- 
ellers were of course violent Unionists, and invaria- 
bly spoke of my late friends as Rebels or Rebs. 
They had all got into their heads that their Potomac 
army, not having been thoroughly' thrashed, as it 
always has been hitherto, had achieved a tremendous 



PENNSTLv.iJ>[iA^^ inLITIA. 297 

victory ; and that its new cliief, General Meade, who 
in reality was driven into a strong position, which lie 
had sense enongli to stick to, is a wonderful strategist. 
Theydll hope that the remnants of Lee's army will 
not be allowed to escape over the Potomac ; whereas, 
when I left the army two days ago, no man in it 
had a thought of escaping over the Potomac, and 
certainly General Meade was not in a position to 
attempt to prevent the passage, if crossing had be- 
come necessary. 

I reached Johnstown on the Pennsylvania Pailway 
at 6 P.M., and found that town in a great state of ex- 
citement in consequence of the review of two militia 
companies, who were receiving garlands from the fair 
ladies of Johnstown in gratitude for their daring con- 
duct in turning out to resist Lee's invasion. Most of 
the men seemed to be respectable mechanics, not at 
all adapted for an early interview with the rebels. 
The garlands supplied were as big and apparently as 
substantial as a ship's life-buoys, and the recipients 
looked particularly helpless after they had got them. 
Heaven help those Pennsylvanian braves if a score 
of Hood's Texans had caught sight of them ! 

Left Johnstown by train at 7.30 p. m., and by pay- 
ing half a dollar, I secured a berth in a sleeping-car — 
a most admirable and ingenious Yankee notion. 

l^th July (Sunday). — The Pittsburg and Phila* 

13* 



298 NEW YORK. 

delphia Railway is, I believe, accounted one of the 
best in America, which did not prevent my spending 
eight hours last night off the line ; but, being asleep 
at the time, I was unaware of the circumstance. In- 
stead of arriving at Philadelphia at 6 a. m., we did not 
get there till 3 p. m. Passed Harrisburg at 9 a.m. It 
was full of Yankee soldiers, and has evidently not 
recovered from the excitement consequent upon the 
late invasion, one effect of which has been to prevent 
the cutting of the crops by the calling out of the 
militia. 

At Philadelphia I saw a train containing one hun- 
dred and fifty Confederate prisoners, who were being 
stared at by a large number of the heau monde of 
Philadelphia. I mingled with the crowd which was 
chaffing them. Most of the people were good-natured, 
but I heard one suggestion to the effect that they 
should be taken to the river, " and every mother's 
son of them drowned there." 

I arrived at JSTew York at 10 p. m., and drove to 
the Fifth Avenue Hotel. 

IZth July (Monday). — The luxury and comfort of 
E"ew York and Philadelphia strike one as extra- 
ordinary after having lately come from Charleston 
and. Richmond. The greenbacks seem to be nearly as 
good as gold. The streets are as full as possible of 
well-dressed people, and are crowded with able-bodied 



NEW YOEK. 299 

civilians capable of bearing arms, who have evidently 
no intention of doing so. Thej apparently dorCtfeel 
the wa/r at all here ; and until there is a grand smash 
with their money, or some other catastrophe to make 
them feel it, I can easily imagine that they will not 
be anxious to make peace. 

I walked the whole distance of Broadway to the 
Consul's house, and nothing could exceed the apparent 
prosperity ; the street was covered with banners and 
placards inviting people to enlist in various high- 
sounding regiments. Bounties of $550 were offered, 
and huge pictures hung across the street, on which 
numbers of ragged Graybacks^ terror depicted on 
their features, were being pursued by the Federals. 

On returning to the Fifth Avenue, I found all the 
shopkeepers beginning to close their stores, and I per- 
ceived by degrees that there was great alarm about 
the resistance to the draft which was going on this 
morning. On reaching the hotel I perceived a whole 
block of buildings on fire close by : engines were pres- 
ent, but were not allowed to play by the crowd. In 
the hotel itself, universal consternation prevailed, and 
an attack by the mob had been threatened. I walked 
about in the neighborhood, and saw a company of 
soldiers on the march, who were being jeered at and 

* The Nortlierners call the Southerners " Graybacks," just as 
the latter call the former " Bluebellies," on account of the color of 
their dress. 



300 EIOTS AT NEW YORK. 

hooted bj small bojs, and I saw a negro pursued hj 
the crowd take refuge with the miiitarj ; he was fol- 
lowed bj loud cries of " Down with the b j nigger ! 

Kill all niggers 1" &c. I^ever having been in 'New 
York before, and being totally ignorant of the state 
of feeling with regard to negroes, I inquired of a by- 
stander what the negroes had done that they should 
want to kill them ? He replied civilly enough—" Oh 
sir, they hate them here ; they are the innocent cause 
of all these troubles." Shortly afterwards, I saw a 
troop of citizen cavalry come up ; the troopers were 
very gorgeously attired, but evidently experienced so 
much difficulty in sitting their horses, that they were 
more likely to excite laughter than any other emotion. 

14:th July (Tuesday). — At breakfast this morning 
two Irish waiters, seeing I was a Britisher, came up 
to me one after another, and whispered at intervals 
in hoarse Hibernian accents — "It's disgraceful, sir. 
I've been drafted, sir. I'm a Briton. I love my 
Country. I love the Union Jack, sir." I suggested 
an interview with Mr. Archibald, but neither of them 
seemed to care about going to the Counsel just yet. 
These rascals have probably been hard at v/ork for 
years, voting as free and enlightened American citi- 
zens, and abusing England to their hearts' content. 

I heard every one talking of the total demoralization 
of the Kebels as a certain fact, and all seemed to anti- 



POPULAR DELUSION. 301 

cipate their approaching destruction. All this sounded 
very absurd to me, who had left Lee's army four days 
previously as full of fight as ever — much stronger in 
numbers, and ten times more efficient in every mili- 
tary point of view, than it was when it crossed the 
Potomac to invade Maryland a year ago. In its own 
opinion, Lee's army has not lost any of its prestige at 
the battle of Gettysburg, in which it most gallantly 
stormed strong intrenchments defended by the whole 
army of the Potomac, which never ventured outside 
its works, or approached in force within half a mile 
of the Confederate artillery. 

The result of the battle of Gettysburg, together with 
the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, seems to have 
turned everybody's head completely, and has deluded 
them with the idea of the speedy and complete sub- 
jugation of the South. I was filled with astonishment 
to hear the people speaking in this confident manner, 
when one of their most prosperous States had been 
so recently laid under contribution as far as Harris- 
burg ; and Washington, their capital itself, having 
just been saved by a fortunate turn of luck. Four- 
fifths of the Pennsylvanian spoil had safely crossed 
the Potomac before I left Hagerstown. 

The consternation in the streets seemed to be on 
the increase ; fires were going on in all directions, 
and the streets were being patrolled by large bodies 
of police followed by special constables, the latter 



S02 THE RIOTS. 

bearing truncheons, but not looking very happy. 
I heard a British captain making a deposition be- 
fore the Consul, to the effect that the mob had got on 
board his vessel, and cruelly beaten his colored crew. 
As no British man-of-war was present, the French 
Admiral was appealed to, who at once requested that 
all British ships with colored crews might be an- 
chored under the guns of his frigate. 

The reports of outrages, hangings, and murder, 
were now most alarming, the terror and anxiety were 
universal. All shops were shut : all carriages and 
omnibuses had ceased running. "No colored man or 
woman was visible or safe in the streets, or even in 
his own dwelling. Telegraphs were cut, and railroad 
tracks torn up. The draft was suspended, and the 
mob evidently had the upper hand. 

The people who can't pay $300 naturally hate be- 
ing forced to fight in order to liberate the very race 
who they are most anxious should be slaves. It is 
their direct interest not only that all slaves should 
remain slaves, but that the free ITorthern negroes 
who comj^ete with them for labor should be sent to 
the South also. 

15th July (Wednesday). — ^The hotel this morning 
was occupied by military, or rather by creatures in 
uniform. One of the sentries stopped me ; and on 
my remonstrating to his officer, the latter blew up 



DEPAKTURE. 303 

the sentry, and said, '' You are only to stop persons 
in military dress — don't you know what military 
dress is ?" " ISTo," responded this efficient sentry — and 
I left the pair discussing the definition of a soldier. 
I had the greatest difficulty in getting a conveyance 
down to the water. I saw a stone barricade in the 
distance, and heard firing going on — and I was not 
at all sorry to find myself on board the China. 



POSTSCRIPT. 



During my voyage home in the China, I had an 
opportunity of discussing with many intelligent 
!Northern gentlemen all that I had seen in my South- 
ern travels. We did so in a very amicable spirit, 
and I think they rendered justice to my wish to, ex- 
plain to them without exaggeration the state of feeling 
amongst their enemies. Although these l^ortherners 
belonged to quite the upper classes, and were not 
likely to be led blindly by the absurd nonsense of 
the sensation press at l^ew York, yet their ignorance 
of the state of the case in the Sonth was very great. 

The recent. successes had given them the impres- 
sion that the last card of the South was played. 
Charleston was about to fall ; Mobile, Savannah, 
and Wihnington would quickly follow ; Lee's army 
they thought, was a disheartened, disorganized mob ; 
Bragg's army in a still worse condition, fleeing be- 
fore Rosecrans, who would carry every thing before 
him. They felt confident that the fall of the Missis- 



306 POSTSCEIPT. 

sippian fortresses would prevent communication from 
one bank to the other, and that the great river would 
soon be open to peaceful commerce. 

All these illusions have since been dispelled, but 
they probably still cling to the idea of the great ex- 
haustion of the Southern jpersonnel. 

But this difficulty of recruiting the Southern armies 
is not so great as is generally supposed. As I have 
already stated, no Confederate soldier is given his 
discharge from the army, however badly he may be 
wounded ; but he is employed at such labor in the 
public •service as he may be cajDable of performing, 
and his place in the ranks is taken by a sound man 
hitherto exempted. The slightly wounded are cured 
as quickly as possible, and are sent back at once to 
their regiments. 37ie women take care of this. The 
number actually killed, or who die of their wounds, 
are the only total losses to the State, and these form 
but a small proportion of the enormous butcher's 
bills which seem at first so very appalling. 

I myself remember, with General Polk's corps, a ' 
fine-looking man who had had both his hands blown 
ofi" at the wrists by unskilful artillery-practice in one 
of the early battles. A currycomb and brush were 
fitted into his stumps, and he was engaged in groom- 
ing artillery -horses with considerable skill. This man 
was called an hostler ; and, as the war drags on, the 
number of these handless hostlers will increase. Bj' 



POSTSCEIPT. 807 

degrees the clerks at tlie offices, the orderlies, the 
railway and post-office officials, and the stage-drivers, 
will be composed of maimed and mutilated soldiers. 
The number of exempted persons all over the South 
is still very large, and they can easily be exchanged 
for worn veterans. Besides this fund to draw upon, 
a calculation is made of the number of boys who 
arrive each year at the fighting age. These are all 
" panting for the rifle," but have been latterly wise- 
ly forbidden the ranks until they are fit to undergo 
the hardships of a military life. By these means, it 
is the opinion of the Confederates that they can keep 
their armies recruited up to their present strength 
for several years ; and, if the worst comes to the 
worst, they can always fall back upon their negroes 
as the last resort ; but I do not think they contem- 
plate such a necessity as likely to arise for a consid- 
erable time. 

With respect to the supply of arms, cannon, pow- 
der, and military stores, the Confederates are under 
no alarm whatever. Augusta furnishes more than 
sufficient gunpowder ; Atlanta, copper caps, &c. 
The Tredegar works at Richmond, and other foun- 
dries, cast more cannon than is wanted; and the 
Federal generals have always hitherto proved them- 
selves the most indefatigable purveyors of artillery 
to the Confederate Government, for even in those 
actions which they claim as drawn battles or as vie- 



308 POSTSCRIPT. 

tories, such as Corinth, Murfreesborongh, and Gettys- 
burg, they have never failed to make over cannon to 
the Southerners without exacting any in return. 

My D^orthern friends on board the China spoke 
much and earnestly about the determination of the 
IN'orth to crush out the Rebellion at any sacrifice. 
But they did not show any disposition io fight them- 
selves in this cause, although many of tliem would 
have made most eligible recruits ; and if they had 
been Southerners, their female relations would have 
made them enter the army whether their inclinations 
led them that way or not. 

I do not mention this difference of spirit by way of 
making any odious comparisons between I^orth and 
South in this respect, because I feel sure that these 
!Northern gentlemen would emulate the example of 
their enemy if they could foresee any danger of a 
Soutliern Butler exercising his infamous sway over 
Philadelphia, or of a Confederate Milroy ruling with 
intolerable despotism in Boston, by withholding the 
necessaries of life from helpless women w^ith one hand, 
whilst tendering them with the other a hated and 
absurd oath of allegiance to a detested Government. 

But the mass of res]3ectable J^Tortherners, though 
the}^ may be willing to pay, do not very naturally 
feel themselves called upon to give their blood in a 
war of aggression, ambition, and conquest. For this 
war is essentially a war of conquest. If ever a nation 



POSTSCRIPT. 309 

did wage such a war, the ISTorth is now engaged, 
with a determination worthy of a more hopeful cause, 
in endeavoring to conquer the South ; but the more 
I think of all that I have seen in the Confederate 
States of the devotion of the whole population, the 
more I feel inclined to say w^ith General Polk — 
"How can you subjugate such a people as this?" 
and even supposing that their extermination were a 
feasible plan, as some J^ortherners have suggested, I 
never can believe that in the nineteenth century the 
civilized world will be condemned to "v/itness the de- 
struction of such a gallant race. 



THE END. " 



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